Obama began his 2012 presidential victory speech praising the
unity of our nation. Unfortunately, exit
polls reveal a devastatingly polarized electorate propelled him
to victory.

Obama
declared:

[Our nation] moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit
that has triumphed over war and depression…the belief that while
each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an
American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and as
one people.

But Obama failed to win modest margins across most demographic
and political groups. Instead, he won big among some and Romney won
big among others. According the national
exit polls, Obama won big among young Americans, women,
Latinos, African Americans, LGBT, unmarrieds, those making les than
50,000 a year, urban areas and the secular, and he did so with
significant margins. In contrast, Romney won big among the
religious, married, rural, older, and Caucasians. It’s
extraordinarily sad that demographic groups’ voting was so
polarized.