I was beyond excited to be in America for the 2012 Presidential election - it was set to be one of the most closely fought in recent history!
Armed with my Obama buttons (of course!) and a blank map of the United States, I was all set to watch the election unfold.
The electoral vote, not the popular vote, is what matters during a presidential election - on my maps, I've marked how many electoral college votes each state has.
So, because the East coast is three hours ahead of us in the West, they declare their votes first. Early on in the night, the map was looking something like this, which was no surprise.
Obama (in blue - I know, confusing if you're used to blue being associated with the Tories as it is in England) took a few of the New England states, and his home state of Illinois, whilst the South went to Romney.
A bit later on the map was looking slightly scary with all that red. However, though it looks like Romney was winning by a significant proportion, just look at the number of electoral votes each state has - although he'd secured Texas (which has 38 electoral votes), most of his other wins were states with only three votes.
Obama had taken some states with important electoral college votes at this point, like Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania, though he was still trailing behind Romney - until the West Coast was announced.
And this was the moment Obama was re-elected for a second term as President!
Once he'd taken California, which holds a huge 55 electoral votes, and the two swing states of Iowa and Ohio, it was all over.
In the end, Obama won by 303 electoral votes to Romney's 206, even with Florida, one of the most important swing states, still undeclared. It seems like they have problems with vote counting in nearly every election!
Obama also managed to win the popular vote, even if it was by a tiny margin.
Once the victory was announced, everyone was so happy with the result - I'm glad I'm not studying in the South, because I expect that the reaction would have been quite different!
I was a bit disappointed that some of the propositions here in California didn't pass, like Prop 34, to repeal the death penalty. It just goes to show that the props reflect California's diversity in voting in a very different way to the popular or electoral vote.
I feel so lucky that I was able to experience the election whilst in America, and to see Obama re-elected for four more years!
UPDATE: Obama won Florida in the end!
Armed with my Obama buttons (of course!) and a blank map of the United States, I was all set to watch the election unfold.
The electoral vote, not the popular vote, is what matters during a presidential election - on my maps, I've marked how many electoral college votes each state has.
So, because the East coast is three hours ahead of us in the West, they declare their votes first. Early on in the night, the map was looking something like this, which was no surprise.
Obama (in blue - I know, confusing if you're used to blue being associated with the Tories as it is in England) took a few of the New England states, and his home state of Illinois, whilst the South went to Romney.
A bit later on the map was looking slightly scary with all that red. However, though it looks like Romney was winning by a significant proportion, just look at the number of electoral votes each state has - although he'd secured Texas (which has 38 electoral votes), most of his other wins were states with only three votes.
Obama had taken some states with important electoral college votes at this point, like Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania, though he was still trailing behind Romney - until the West Coast was announced.
And this was the moment Obama was re-elected for a second term as President!
Once he'd taken California, which holds a huge 55 electoral votes, and the two swing states of Iowa and Ohio, it was all over.
In the end, Obama won by 303 electoral votes to Romney's 206, even with Florida, one of the most important swing states, still undeclared. It seems like they have problems with vote counting in nearly every election!
Obama also managed to win the popular vote, even if it was by a tiny margin.
Once the victory was announced, everyone was so happy with the result - I'm glad I'm not studying in the South, because I expect that the reaction would have been quite different!
I was a bit disappointed that some of the propositions here in California didn't pass, like Prop 34, to repeal the death penalty. It just goes to show that the props reflect California's diversity in voting in a very different way to the popular or electoral vote.
I feel so lucky that I was able to experience the election whilst in America, and to see Obama re-elected for four more years!
UPDATE: Obama won Florida in the end!
Sorry to say but that map is ultimate dork - so proud! 4 more years!x
ReplyDeleteHaha I know, I never pretended to be cool! Xx
Deletei totally agree, but it's also cute. very jealous of you girls x
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