I recently heard a statement that Romney received fewer votes than McCain did in 2008.  I thought that couldn't be correct.  In the area that I live, as well as where my family and friends live, it seemed that there was far more support for Romney than McCain every had.  So I began a quest to see what I could find.

I used this website as the source for my data; http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php

As I looked at this data I found that there seemed to be a general lack of support for both candidates.  The bottom line: President Obama received 7,349,929 fewer votes in 2012 than in 2008.  Romney received 1,160,508 fewer votes than McCain did.  My first thought was; did the religious right reject Romney because he’s a Mormon?  The data doesn’t go into that level of detail but if you look at the state level data and make some assumptions based on the religious nature of the state, it appears that Romney increased his support in those states.  Where did Romney lose support?  Cal (-1,046,361), NY (526,134), NJ (256,930), AZ (150,659), OH (94,238), AK (72,607), OK (68,840), PA (60,711), WA (55,564), MS (50,295), OR (21,066), KS (20,936), TN (19,213), NM (14,096), AL (12,756), RI (8,303), VT (6,274), ME (4,836) and DC (30).  He gained votes in the remaining 31 voting states.  He netted 1,160,508 fewer votes than McCain.

What is more telling, in my observations, is that President Obama got more votes in 2012 than 2008 in only 3 states: VA (4,000), NC (13,299) and LA (25,452).  President Obama received 7,349,929 fewer votes in 2012 than in 2008.

Since this was well published “close” race, it tells me that many, if not the majority of these voters didn’t like either choice.  While they do not like the president, they didn’t like Romney enough to vote for him either.  38 states (counting DC) cast fewer votes in 2012 than 2008. 

What do you think?  Stay above the petty name calling and insults; let’s just discuss policy and the electorate.