With results in from most states, America's first black president has secured the 270 votes in the electoral college needed to win the race.

 

Mr Obama prevailed（盛行，战胜） despite lingering（拖延的） dissatisfaction with the economy and a well-funded challenge by Mr Romney.

 

He won by a comfortable margin², even while the swing state of Florida remains³ too close to call.

 

With Florida's 29 electoral votes still undecided, Mr Obama won 303 electoral votes to Mr Romney's 206.

 

In Chicago, Mr Obama greeted cheering supporters and congratulated Mr Romney and Republican Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan on their hard-fought campaign.

 

"We have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come," he said.

 

He pledged to work with Republican leaders in Congress to reduce the government's budget deficit⁴, fix the tax code and reform the immigration system.

 

"We are an American family and we rise and fall together as one nation," he said.

 

In Boston, where his campaign was based, Mr Romney congratulated the president and said he and Mr Ryan had "left everything on the field" and had given their all in the campaign.

 

"This election is over, but our principles endure," he said. "I so wish that I had been able to fulfil your hopes to lead the country in a different direction."

 

Under the US constitution, each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes - by prevailing⁵ in the mostly winner-takes-all state contests - becomes president.

 

The popular vote, which is symbolically⁶ and politically important but not decisive in the race, remains too close to call.

 

On Tuesday, the president held the White House by assembling solid Democratic states and a number of important swing states such as Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia and Wisconsin. His narrow victory in Ohio, a critical Mid-Western swing state, sealed the victory.

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