Independent Voters:
2012: Romney - Won them 50% to 45%
2008: McCain - Lost them 44% to 52%
2004: Bush - Lost them 48% to 49%
2000: Bush - Won them 48% to 46%
1996: Dole - Lost 35% to 43%
1992: Bush - Lost 32% to 38%
1988: Bush - Won 55% to 43%
Romney delivered the best performance among independents by a Republican Presidential candidate in 25 years.
Presidential Race - 2012 Election Center - Elections & Politics from CNN.com
Independent Voters in Presidential Elections | The Independents | washingtonpost.com
Local Exit Polls - Election Center 2008 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com
Too many Democratic Voters, and Specifically too few Women and Minorities voting Republican.
Those who react to this loss by clamoring for a more right-wing candidate will ensure more defeats like this if they get their way.
The same electorate who voted to reelect President Obama by a slight majority believed by a slightly larger majority that Mitt Romney would be better for the economy, and a large majority thought that the economy was issue #1
Romney performs better among independents than Obama and better than any (R) candidate in 25 years. Romney convinces a majority of the voters he'd be better for the economy. Romney loses, and loses by Double-Digits among women and loses by over 40% among Latinos.
I don't think the problem could be ANY CLEARER. Romney's economic message of lower taxation, more limited government, and more free enterprise with less government regulation WORKED.
Romney lost the election, against an opponent whose entire strategy focused around trashing Romney, specifically on social issues and by spending billions of dollars and thousands of campaign hours painting Romney as an extreme social conservative.
Any conservative and any Tea Partier who isn't brain dead knows darn well what this means.
We are at a cross-roads, and are presented with a very simple and very clear choice.
One path leads to future viability. The other obscurity.
Which one will we collectively choose???
:lurk: