Popular Vote 2012: Why Romney Did Better Than McCain in 2008, But Still Got Crushed

Impact

President Obama may have soundly defeated mitt Romney in the Electoral College count, 332 to 206, and in the partial popular vote count. But the 2012 Republican presidential nominee has already surpassed John McCain's 2008 popular vote total.

As of Friday, Romney had a total of 60,221,746 votes, while McCain received 59,948,323 popular votes in 2008. However, the former governor of Massachusetts trails Obama by more than four million votes (with the president’s popular vote total standing at 64,430,488).

If expressed in percentages, Obama so far holds 50.8% of the popular to Romney’s 47.45%. This number is ironic, as when the final tally is revealed -- after the ballots of heavily populated and Democratic New York and California are in -- Romney's number could go down to 47% (the number of his unfortunate comment in the middle of the campaign).

However, Romney seems to be recovering from defeat, as he has been seen pumping his own gas in California and enjoying some family time in amusement parks -- in the kind of candid pictures that have more than one wondering why they weren't unveiled before the election as they reveal a more personable and less stiff politician.   

Nonetheless, Romney can find consolation in the fact that his candidacy at least improved the 2008 GOP performance. In 2008, Obama received 69,498,516 votes out of 131,296,985 total votes cast. That came out to 52.93% for Obama, 45.65%.