The Republicans were given a second chance and put in power despite their unpopularity.
Republicans were given a very simple election mandate from the American people - stop Obama and his agenda, pure and simple.
If they don't get the message to fight the fight they were elected to fight, they will be out in 2016 either because the American public kicks them out or because Obama has won the fight and realized his goal of manufacturing a permanent Democrat majority by demographically swamping American Citizens with a Tsunami of imported illegal alien voters beholden to Obama personally
Re-election is not as important as it seems. The new congressmen and senators find out, if they did not already know, that if they vote “correctly” their lifetime affluence is assured even if they are not re-elected whereas if they vote against the system their wealth is limited to their salary and their own investment acumen.