There are a lot of reasons Romney lost, from when Obama and Biden both called out their opponents in the debates about what their plan actually was, and neither Romney nor Ryan were able to give any details other than spending cuts. I don't think they actually had planned out what they wanted to cut. On the other hand, Obama/Biden's plan was concise and detailed and they were both able to explain it whenever they needed to. It doesn't take much to impress the uninformed. 47% of the people interviewed said that the only position that Romney maintained throughout the campaign was that he should be president.
Since Obama won basically everyone but nonurban white men and their wives, there are a lot of different groups to hate on, but a clear front-runner in the Blame Game emerged: single women, who gave 68 percent of their vote to Obama, compared to 53 percent of married women who voted for Romney. There were people out there that REALLY believed that Romney wants rape victims forced to have the baby, for poor and middle class families to pay more taxes while the rich collect huge profits from it, to repeal Welfare and other entitlements, and to win a "war against women" to put them in their place.
Romney flip-flopped a lot (on social issues), which turns people off, and many voters, some Republicans themselves, do not trust the Republican Party at all with issues such as immigration, foreign policy, gun control, and social inequality. We got a bunch of them on this site...me included.
Hurricane Sandy, gave Obama a chance to show competence and look presidential (and Gov. Christie gave an honest compliment about Obama's good performance).
Last but not least, the 300 lb gorilla that Democrats say doesn't exist. From machines that wouldn't accept votes for Romney, to places that kicked out Republicans supervising the voting - and suddenly, *miraculously* started getting many more votes for Obama - to the very intentional lack of any kind of voter ID requirement. It's far easier to vote several times when you don't have to show that pesky ID. You don't get between 99% and 140% of the vote in key areas by playing by the rules. In terms of legal votes, maybe Romney did win.
