Americans on social programs, including seniors, thought that they would loose some or all of their benefits - the media made sure they were afraid of Paul Ryan.
One of the startling numbers I saw from an exit poll last night was that Obama only won something like 56% of the voters in the 18-29 age group. These people were the core of his support in 2008. They lost interest in Obama because a lot of the 18-22 year-olds in 2008 are now college graduates with no jobs today.
What really happened here is that Obama's base of misfits and losers was supplemented by large numbers of gainfully employed middle-class people who saw no reason to change things after four years. Think auto workers in Ohio and Federal employees in Virginia, folks.