There’s no need to hire any moving trucks to show up at the doorstep of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Incumbent U.S. President Barack Obama successfully fended off challenger Gov. Mitt Romney to remain in the Oval Office through 2016.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday, the CNN and Fox News cable networks announced that their projections had estimated a win for Obama. Key battleground states Ohio and Pennsylvania fell to Obama, which were two states considered critical for a Romney upset.
David Kozak, Ph.D., a professor in Gannon University’s political science department, watched the election results with a group of students in the Yehl Ballroom. Kozak predicted that if either candidate won two out of three key battleground states — Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida — victory was certain.
“The battleground states are the real show,” Kozak said. “But that is what the drama is all about.”
Nick Dragoone, a senior criminal justice major, attended the results viewing.
“Watching this election is causing a lot of ups and downs emotionally,” Dragoone said. “The results aren’t a surprise; it’s expected.”
Voting results from Ohio reported a 49-percent tie between Obama and Romney with more than 80 percent of all votes counted. Projections tipped Ohio’s electoral votes in Obama’s favor, despite the tie.
CBS News reported at 12:30 a.m. that Romney had yet to concede the race to Obama. It was reported that the Romney campaign was unwilling to “give up” on Ohio.
Projections for Florida and Virginia were still being calculated late into the night.
Close margins of victory in several swing states and the near tie of the popular vote underscored a tight race overall.
“I knew it was going to be close the whole election,” Aurielle Smith, a sophomore major, said. “I didn’t realize the process was this intense.
“The things you vote for are actually going to make a difference.”
Romney did have one early victory: he won the vote in Indiana, orchestrating a successful “takeway” of a state Obama had won in his 2008 campaign.
Obama swept the Northeast Coast from Virginia to Maine along with the West Coast states. Romney took the southern states and much of the Midwest, except for Colorado and New Mexico.
CNN exit polls suggested the demographics of voters. 55 percent of women and 60 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds revealed they chose to re-elect Obama.
60 percent of voters with income lower than $50,000 sided with Obama.
