I don't think this means what you think it means.
Which "Principle" was Romney (and which Romney) standing on: pro-life (not so much as Gov. Romney, RINO-MA), tax (again, not so much as Gov.), etc., etc.,
A candidate who cannot appeal to the base and has been running for 6 years yet can't frame the debate to hang the economy on the incumbent - there's your bottom line.
Where are you getting your info from?
"Evangelicals turned out in record numbers and voted as heavily for Mitt Romney yesterday as they did for George W. Bush in 2004," said Ralph Reed, chairman of Faith and Freedom Coalition. "That is an astonishing outcome that few would have predicted even a few months ago."
http://www.christianpost.com/news/survey-evangelical-voters-for-romney-overshadowed-by-youth-minorities-for-obama-84609/cpf
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The numbers back Ralph Reed. No one will argue that Bush failed to turn out the base in 2004. Yet, Romney got several million more evangelical votes than Bush. That this happened in a declining demographic is remarkable.