Despite the closeness of public opinion polls in the week before the US presidential election, on election day almost every closely-contested state swung to President Obama, with the result that the vote in the US Electoral College was a convincing 332 votes to 206. Democrats who expected a close race were exuberant. Republicans were devastated.
However, in the cold light of day, it is clear that the US elections almost exactly restored the status quo. President Obama has been comfortably r…