Another surprise of this election was the gender gap. Obama won women voters, while a majority of men voted for Romney. President Obama also did well with minorities, especially Hispanics, who gave Democrats their largest margin of support since 1996.

Lichtman says the Republican Party needs to broaden its support.

"The Republican Party will not survive unless it figures out a way, and that is going to be really hard to appeal to minorities and to appeal to women, given their stance on abortion, on immigration, on civil rights," he said. "That is a task for Republicans."

Obama will again face a divided Congress. Democrats retained control of the U.S. Senate while Republicans kept control of the House of Representatives.

Analysts say the president's supporters know their celebration could be short lived unless he and lawmakers find common ground to solve the nation's pressing problems.

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