Electoral Map 2012: Obama Beats Romney By 97 Votes, Final Results

After months of an incredibly close race in the 2012 presidential campaign, the final outcome turned out to be a lot more decisive than pundits expected.

President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney had been in a dead heat in nationwide polls for most of the last several weeks, which led political commentators to expect a long night before a winner was declared.

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Instead, the race came to a close relatively early, with Obama pulling out wins in swing states across the country and trouncing his opponent by nearly 100 electoral votes.

With most of the results in and only Florida still too close to call, Obama stands at 303 electoral votes, which easily took him past the 270-vote requirement to win the White House. Romney lagged behind significantly, with the GOP nominee pulling in 206 electoral votes.

CLICK HERE to check out CNN's electoral map and analysis of the results of the 2012 presidential election.

Victories in key swing states aided Obama in his path to victory. The president picked up Ohio, which for many weeks had been called a must-win state for either candidate, as well as Colorado, New Hampshire and Virginia, three states where the race had been hotly contested and where things were too close to call on the morning of Election Day.

Romney's only swing state victory came in North Carolina, though he still has a small chance to pick up Florida's 29 electoral votes. Though either outcome wouldn't change Obama's win, the Sunshine State is still too close to call. CNN's current results show Obama at 50 percent and Romney at 49 percent, with 97 percent of the precincts reporting.

Obama also pulled out a definite victory in the popular vote, topping Romney by about 2.6 million votes. According to CNN's total tally, which is still changing as the final round of votes pours in, Obama has about 59.8 million votes, while Romney collected approximately 57.2 million.