CONTRARY to what some kababayans opine, President Barack Obama won the election NOT just because of race, nor by the force of the 47 percent of the American people, who according to Gov. Mitt Romney, “are with him (Obama), who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”
No less than Romney and his supporters have been making their case — that this election was a referendum on Obama and his policies.
On election day, the verdict became known.
President Barack Obama won and has been re-elected for another four years, despite conventional wisdom and history that no American President since Franklin D. Roosevelt has been re-elected when the unemployment rate is above seven percent.
Looking at the CNN exit polls, President Obama won because he passed the American voters’ test of leadership, while Mitt Romney failed to present a more compelling case that he is the better choice.
When American voters were asked “how Obama was handling his job as President,” majority of the American voters (54 percent) gave President Obama their seal of approval. Only 45 percent disapproved.
Obama was given four more years by the American people who were asked by both the Republicans and the Democrats during the campaign: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
Debunking what Republicans and their Fil-Am supporters have been saying during the campaign that Americans are in a much worse state now under Obama’s lack of leadership and failed policies, CNN’s exit polls show that nearly one in every four Americans actually said that US economic conditions are “getting better,” about three in every ten voters said “staying about the same.” Only about three in every ten American voters said the economy is “getting worse.”
Voters by income
Also contradicting pre-election notion of some Romney supporters, including many Fil-Ams, that those who would vote for Obama are welfare and food stamps recipients, 44 percent of those making $100,000 or more voted for Obama. Fifty-four percent of these higher income earners chose Romney.
Seventy-two percent of the American voters earn less than $100,000 a year. Majority of them (54 percent) supported Obama, while 44 percent voted for Romney. Among those earning less than $50,000 a year, nearly six out of ten supported Obama, and about four out of ten chose Romney.
Voters by education
Disputing generalizations made by some Fil-Am Romney supporters on our Balitang America website, those who supported Obama were found to be NOT ignorant nor uneducated.
On the contrary, there were more Obama supporters who pursued higher studies after high school than Romney supporters. More Democrat voters also reported having post-graduate education (55 percent) than Republicans (42 percent).
Voters by religion
Another contradiction to the belief of many Fil-Am Republicans (that more Catholics voted for Obama) is the finding that 50 percent voted for Obama, versus Romney’s 48 percent. It is interesting to note that the overall popular vote in the national level was the same: Obama won 50 percent while Romney got 48 percent.
This would reflect the divide among Catholic Americans. Those who value social justice reportedly favor Obama, while Catholics who hold on to conservative social values (opposing gay marriage, contraception, abortion, etc.) support Romney.
Consistent with pre-election studies, a big majority of Evangelical Christians supported Romney: 57 percent versus 42 percent for Obama. Those who belong to other other organized religions (7 percent of American voters) and those who do not practice any religion at all (12 percent) voted heavily for Obama.
Issue number one
The economy is still the number one issue for this election, according to almost 6 out of 10 voters. But while Romney lead by a slight margin on the question “who would better handle the economy” (49 percent versus Obama 48 percent), majority of the American voters still blame George W. Bush for the current economic mess (53 percent), while 38 percent blame Obama.
This might imply that while many Americans look up to Romney’s credentials as a leader who knows business, they reject the Republican solution of going back to the same policies that got America into this deep economic ditch.
While majority of American voters (52 percent) say the country is going on the wrong track, an even bigger majority (55 percent) believe that the US economic system generally favors the wealthy. Only 39 percent say it is fair for most Americans.
Choosing their leader
In addressing this inequity, it seems majority of Americans voted for the candidate who is more in touch with people like them: Obama 53 percent, Romney 43 percent. An overwhelming 81 percent of voters who value this attribute also said they believe Obama cares more about people, while only 18 percent trusted Romney on this issue.
These aforementioned attributes of the President gained more weight than the qualities of a leader which majority of voters thought are Romney’s edge over Obama: “shares my values,” “strong leader,” vision for the future.”
A changing America
The exit polls also revealed how much the American electorate has changed. Post-mortem analyses (not only by pundits but by Romney supporters as well) acknowledge that the Republicans had been blindsided by the changing demographics of the American voters.
While Gov. Mitt Romney might have carried the vote of the white, male and older voters, it was no longer enough to win him the presidency.
President Barack Obama won 39 percent of white voters, and in the battleground state of Ohio Obama got 45 percent of the white male votes, thanks to his auto bailout.
This was fortified by the strength of women and younger voters, and the the coalition of the ethnic vote that now makes up 28 percent of the American electorate. Obama got the overwhelming support of 93 percent of the African Americans, 71 percent of Latinos and 73 percent of Asian Americans.
Voters by ideology and political party
Despite the fierce nature of the debates between partisan Americans leading up to the election, the race to the White House was decided by voters with moderate ideological views (41 percent), more than by either right-wing Conservatives (35 percent) or left-wing Liberals (25 percent). While more American voters said they were neutral about the Tea Party movement, an overwhelming number of those who support it are Republicans (87 percent), while more Democrats oppose it (89 percent).
There were more Democrats who were motivated to go out and vote, comprising 38 percent of the electorate. Thirty-two percent were Republicans while 29 percent identified themselves as Independent.
No less than one of Obama’s hardest critic (former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich) wrote in an op-ed article on Politico that the Republicans were wrong about turnout, message, and the makeup of the electorate and “must learn the facts of the 2012 election.”
Obama’s mandate
Moving forward, Obama’s victory is proof of the mandate the American people have given him to lead the country, towards his vision of recovery and progress in the next four years. This, despite the status quo in Congress (with Republicans still the majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats still the majority in the Senate), the same balance of power that has caused the gridlock in Washington.
Taxing the rich to solve the growing deficit, the passage of Obama’s jobs act to invest in America’s future, enactment into law of a comprehensive immigration reforms bill, policies addressing the issue of climate change — these are shown by the polls to be supported by a big majority of the American voters. These will be in Obama’s agenda, which his administration will be pushing for in the next four years.
Would the Republicans in Congress and those outside Washington (including Fil-Am Republicans) be on board? Would they heed the advice of Newt Gingrich, who argued that Republican leadership in Congress can’t reject a good faith plan from President Obama to cut the deficit and avoid the looming fiscal cliff? As Gingrich pointed out, “You can’t turn down a president who’s just won re-election if he’s sincere.”
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
