By KIERA BRENNAN
News Editor
Incumbent President Barack Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney on November 6 in the 2012 presidential election.
President Obama won 303 electoral votes, thirty-three more than the necessary 270. Romney finished short with 206 votes, despite an early lead.
Although the President’s win was definitive, it was far closer than his previous victory in the 2008 presidential election, where he captured 365 electoral votes to John McCain’s 173. In this year’s election, Obama captured nine out of the ten “swing states.” Romney reclaimed North Carolina for Republicans, after it bucked its traditionally conservative reputation in 2008, in favor of President Obama.
New Jersey, like the 2008 election, gave its fourteen electoral votes to the President.
While the majority of students were only qualified to vote in the mock election, seniors who turned eighteen before November 6 had the opportunity to vote for the national election.
Senior Austin Smith from Hazlet felt that even after casting his vote, it made little difference.
“Looking at the results of the election, it makes me wonder why we even bothered,” Smith said. “We have the same president and the balance of power in the Senate and House of Representatives is the same. We literally went nowhere.”
Fellow senior Tyler McManus from Fair Haven approached voting differently.
“I voted because I was finally old enough and the president will directly affect my future,” McManus said. “The main issue I cared about was the economy and how each candidate planned to improve it.”
Economic issues left President Obama little time to celebrate after his victory. He has already begun negotiations on his latest tax plan with the House of Representatives, which will take effect in January.