I don’t our our candidate sucked. I think he failed to motivate the more emotional voters. Mitt’s arguments were generally reasoned ones and presented in a clear way. What was lacking was an emotional component to the arguments. Regan was good at it. If we got better at it, that vision thing, we could motivate some of our adversaries to join us.
Romney won the 40-65 vote 51% to 47% and the over 65 56-44. Together they comprised 54% of the total vote. This is according to the exit polls.
IMO what was lacking was the failure to attract younger voters, the ones that watch the Dailey show, MTV, etc. where Obama has made a home. And the demographics are changing. By 2019 half of the children 18 and under will be minorities as defined by the USG. As the over 65s die out they are replaced by a cohort of Dem voters. Demography is destiny.