President Barack Obama won a second term in the White House on Tuesday, overcoming deep doubts among voters about his handling of the US economy to score a clear victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Obama scored impressive victories across the country, so much so that the big build-up over Ohio, Virginia and Florida fizzled

Americans chose to stick with a divided Government in Washington, however, by leaving the US Congress as it is, with Obama’s fellow Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans keeping the House of Representatives.

After a long, bitter and expensive campaign, the 51-year-old Obama began trying to bring Americans together in a victory speech before thousands of cheering supporters in Chicago.

Accused by Romney throughout the campaign of taking a partisan tone, Obama vowed to reach out to Republicans in his new, four-year term.

“You voted for action, not politics as usual,” Obama said, calling for compromise and pledging to work with leaders of both parties to reduce the deficit, to reform the tax code and immigration laws and to cut dependence on foreign oil.

The nationwide popular vote remained extremely close with Obama taking about 50 per cent to 49 per cent for Romney after a campaign in which the candidates and their party allies spent a combined $2 billion (€1.5 billion). But Obama comfortably won the electoral votes needed in the state-by-state system used to choose US presidents.

Obama scored impressive victories across the country, so much so that the big build-up over Ohio, Virginia and Florida fizzled. Obama reached the 270 electoral votes needed for election even without those three states, rolling up wins in Democratic strongholds and carrying Nevada, Iowa and Colorado.

In the end, he also won Ohio and Virginia and was ahead in Florida, where votes were still being counted.

Romney, the multimillionaire former private equity executive, came back from a series of campaign stumbles to make it close after besting the President in the first of three presidential debates.

The 65-year-old former Massachusetts Governor conceded in a gracious speech delivered to disappointed supporters at the Boston convention centre.

I pray that the President will be successful in guiding our nation

“This is a time of great challenge for our nation,” Romney told the crowd. “I pray that the President will be successful in guiding our nation.”

He warned against partisan bickering and urged politicians on both sides to “put the people before the politics”.

Obama told his crowd he hoped to sit down with Romney in the weeks ahead and examine ways to meet the challenges ahead.

The same problems that dogged Obama in his first term are still there to confront him again. He faces a difficult task of tackling $1 trillion (€0.78 trillion) annual deficits, reducing a $16 trillion (€12.5 trillion) national debt, overhauling expensive social programmes and dealing with a gridlocked Congress that kept the same partisan make-up.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell did not sound like he was willing to concede his conservative principles, in a sign of potential confrontations ahead.

“The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the President’s first term, they have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do, together with a Congress that restored balance to Washington after two years of one-party control,” McConnell said.

The result eliminates the prospect of wholesale repeal of Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform law but it still leaves questions about how much of his signature domestic policy achievement will be implemented.

The immediate focus for the President and Congress will be to confront the ‘fiscal cliff’, a mix of tax increases and spending cuts due to extract some $600 billion (€470 billion) from the economy barring a deal with Congress.

Obama, America’s first black President, won a new term by convincing voters to stick with him as he tries to reignite strong economic growth and recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

An uneven recovery has been showing some signs of strength but the country’s 7.9 per cent jobless rate remains stubbornly high.

Democrats kept control of the 100-member Senate, seizing Republican-held seats in Massachusetts and Indiana while keeping most of those they already had, including in Virginia and Missouri.

Republicans remained in control of the 435-member House, ensuring Congress still faces a deep partisan divide as it turns to the year-end ‘fiscal cliff’ and other issues.

“That means the same dynamic. That means the same people who couldn’t figure out how to cut deals for the past three years,” said Ethan Siegel, an analyst who tracks Washington politics for institutional investors.

While the Senate result was no surprise, Republicans had given themselves an even chance of winning a majority, so the night represented a disappointment for them and was in part the self-inflicted result of internal battles.

International leaders offered their congratulations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has a testy relationship with the US leader, vowed to work with Obama “to ensure the interests that are vital for the security of Israel’s citizens.”

A spokesman for Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist who is Egypt’s first freely elected President, said: “We hope the newly elected US Administration will work to achieve the interests of both the American and Egyptian people.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain and the US should make finding a way to solve the Syrian crisis a priority following Obama’s re-election.

International reactions

After President Barack Obama’s re-election, world leaders expressed hope for stronger cooperation with the United States on issues ranging from the struggle against Islamic extremism to international trade.

Here are some of the reactions:

Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped Obama’s re-election would have a positive impact on relations with the US, which have been strained by differences over issues ranging from missile defence to human rights and the conflict in Syria.

China
China’s official media said Obama’s re-election offered the opportunity to put Sino-US relations back on track after it said mutual trust had been “whittled down” during his first term.

“As the two countries have been ever more economically interwoven, a new US Government perhaps should start to learn how to build a more rational and constructive relationship with China,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to cooperate with Obama on security issues, despite what has been seen as a testy personal relationship that clouded US-Israel ties over the past four years. But in remarks underscoring a rift with the US over possible Israeli military action against Iran, Netanyahu said: “If there is no other way to stop Iran, Israel is ready to act.”

Vatican
The Vatican congratulated US President Barack Obama on his re-election but reminded him yesterday of the thorny differences between the Catholic Church and his administration over abortion and healthcare. The “culture of life” is a phrase covering the Church’s opposition to abortion. Obama supports abortion rights and made women’s health issues a key part of his campaign.

Iran
The head of Iran’s judiciary condemned the “crimes” of US sanctions, imposed to pressure Tehran to curb its nuclear program, and indicated Obama should not expect rapid new negotiations with Tehran.

United Kingdom
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the United States and Britain should make solving the Syrian crisis a priority following Obama’s re-election.

“One of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis,” Cameron told journalists at a camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan, where he was on an official trip.

Cameron said he also looked forward to working with Obama to “kick start the world economy” and push for an EU-US trade deal over the next four years.