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This week, Americans chose Barack Obama for a second and final four-year term as president. President Obama captured more than three hundred electoral votes, defeating former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. To win the presidency, a candidate needs at least two hundred seventy electoral votes. Early Wednesday, Mr. Obama noted deep political differences in the country. But he said Americans share certain hopes and dreams. He said they rise or fall together as one nation and one people. The president won re-election with the same coalition of voters he had in two thousand eight: women, ethnic minorities and young people. Historian Allan Lichtman says Mr. Obama profited from these groups this year. "Women and minorities put Barack Obama over the top, and there should be a big, huge red-letter warning sign for Republicans that they can't win just with their white Protestant base. We are increasingly becoming a non-white nation." Alan Lichtman and other observers understand the changes in America’s growing population. When Ronald Reagan was elected president in nineteen eighty, whites made up eighty-five percent of the electorate. This year, polling information showed that seventy-two percent of all voters were white. Thirteen percent of those voting were African-American – the same percentage as four years ago. The Hispanic vote grew from nine percent in two thousand eight to ten percent this year. | 
