Funny thing is and most seem to miss it. The polls before 47% were Obama up 4. Then 47%, 1st debate, hurricane and what ended up happening? Yep 4 points. My opinion, for what it is worth, the electorate was stable as hell and the election die was cast by Aug.
The thing that can be easily missed by polls is real enthusiasm. We have those who will NEVER vote GOP, and those who will never vote Dem, then we got a minority in those who would really vote for either with todays parties and environment.
I think the GOP was much better at helping Dems turn out those who would never vote GOP than vice versa.
The 47% comments certainly helped in that it reaffirmed the stereo-type that Dems (and Newt before them) had created of Romney.
And the GOP had lots of other problems, a total f-up.
But things are in the works to make 2014 the flip side of 2012, flip everything above 180 degrees.