It's no secret I think the GOP has gone insane.  It's far too anti-science and anti-women for my comfort level, so I am relieved Obama got 4 more years.  However, I think it's also interesting to see how this years vote was split between various groups.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/11/07/us-exit-polls-race-gender.html

Racial gaps:
90% of Blacks voted for Obama, as did 70% of the Hispanics.  Meanwhile 60% of Whites voted for Romney.

Gender gap:
53% of the voters this year were women, and the majority of those voted Obama.  (Didn't see an actual percentage in the source article)

Age gap:
The majority of people aged 45 and over voted Romney, while the majority of those under 45 voted for Obama

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what GOP stands for?  The answer is "Grand Old Party"... I didn't know, so I looked it up and found it interesting that apparently 49% of Republicans don't know what it stands for either!

While googling the term, I also found out that the the elephant symbol dates back to a cartoon by some renowned political cartoonist named Thomas Nast.  Back in 1874 he drew a cartoon in Harper's Weekly depicting the Democrats as a donkey trying to scare a Republican elephant.  And both have remained generally accepted symbols for each party ever since!

If anyone is interested, here is the short article where I found most of this info: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-531460.html

I wonder how Victoria Jackson voted?  And here I thought her airhead schtick was just an act...
https://twitter.com/vicjackshow

Her and 56 Million other Americans.  Of those that aren't off-their-rocker and believe Obama is a communist terrorist bred by Satan to destroy America, the most common argument for Romney seems to be that Obama will kill the economy.  I don't get it.  Here's a prime quote from slashdot today.

Quoted Text

It isn't the terrorists that will bring down the US...it will be our mismanagement of the economy, and I'm afraid we as a country put a few nails in the coffin with the re-election of this guy. Sad day for the US....

I don't see it. It took Bush's economic policies (tax cuts for the rich, getting our country attacked by not listening to the previous adminiatration or his own FBI agents), and starting two very expensive wars to nearly bankrupt us. Bush went into office with a balanced budget and a booming economy, and left it with the largest defecit in US history and the economy in ruins. You expected Obama to fix in four years what Bush took eight to destroy? Are you mad?

And here's a related comic regarding Romney's brilliant financial solution:

I think the Republicans were counting on the votes from uneducated hillbillies.  Romney's formula of cutting taxes (for the rich anyway), increasing spending (on the military) and expecting the budget to balance better just doesn't work.

Cutting taxes can boost the economy by putting more of the money spent into circulation instead of taking it out of circulation to line the government's coffers, but cutting corporate taxes doesn't do that: the best that can be said is that it may attract business.  Increasing government spending can bolster the economy by giving contractors and soldiers money to spend... unfortunately, these effects on the economy have nothing to do with how balanced the federal budget is, and the effect it has on the debt.

If I was an American voter, one of the deciding factors would be the difference in their foreign policies regarding China - Obama wants to encourage job creation at home and limit the trade imbalance with China, and Romney wants to encourage China to stop manipulating the value of their currency (according to their statements in the last debate).  I have a feeling that Obama's plan would be better for the average American, while Romney's plan would be most beneficial to his elite supporters.

It's just too bad that the House of Representatives maintains a Republican majority, even though Obama won the Executive branch.  It means that it's still going to be a struggle for him to push anything through congress, and four years from now, people may still be asking "what have the Democrats accomplished in their eight years in office?"

I think this image says it all: