President Obama speaks at his second inaugural (1/21/2013). (Dialogue taken from season four of The West Wing)Allow me to start this piece by stating perhaps the most obvious statement you will ever read about the 2012 election cycle:Sam Seaborn: You have me preaching to the choir...why?!
Toby Ziegler: Because that's how you get them to sing.
It was substantially more successful for the Democratic Party than the election that immediately preceded it (2010).
While you sit there and mutter "no shit" quietly to yourself, allow me to follow that up with a statement that may very well surprise you: According to exit polling, President Obama actually did marginally worse with liberals than the vanquished House Democrats did in 2010. And he did only two points better on the margin versus moderate voters (56-41, versus 55-42 for House Democrats in 2010).
If the math doesn't seem to add up for you, allow me to explain. Let's dispel the easy answer: No, it was not inspired by right-wing love for the president. While it is true that Obama did do better with conservatives, it is hard to say that his margin of victory was forged by his 17 percent support among the cons (as opposed to 13 percent for House Democrats).
What changed was actually one of the lesser reported phenomena of 2012. As it happened, 2012 became a base election. And that was a very, very good thing for the Democrats. Follow me past the fold for what may well have been the most stunning single statistic of the 2012 election cycle.
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