Libertarian candidate Johnson got 2 million votes - the record number of Libertarian votes since the party was founded in 1972. They usually get 300-500K votes in a Presidential election. These votes would have given the election to Romney.
Not necessarily.
In NYS, even if all the third party votes had been given to Romney, he still would not have had enough votes to overcome obama. And there were votes for Johnson in there.
If those votes for him were spread out over the country, then it would have not made a difference as long as obama got the key states, the ones with high electoral votes.
Maybe Romney would have won the popular vote but overcoming the inertia of the high electoral vote states is tough.
Johnson did not get enough votes in VA, FL, PA or OH to cause a Romney loss. It was tight, but Johnson was not a major reason for the loss. Low turnout was. Compared to 2008, 14 million stayed home. Factor in population growth and it is closer 20 million.(R needed 67 electoral votes to flip, or about 2 million votes in 4 states. If so, he wins the Pres, but looses the popular vote.)
Romney caused the loss, no one else.
That assumes that all of those votes would have gone to Romney. They wouldn’t have. Gary Johnson was the first legitimate candidate the Libertarians have offered up. He was a very successful governor, and actually articulated a vision for the country. That’s why he did well, compared to the historical Libertarian electoral record.