Women and the young secure Obama's route to victory

Although the share of the national vote was tight, the Illinois senator won a landslide of the electoral college thanks to ruthless targeting of the battlegrounds that decide who wins the White House.

From Ohio in the north to Florida in the south, from Virginia in the east to Nevada in the west, Mr Obama hammered home George Bush's failures on the economy and Iraq with his volunteer army of millions.

In nine swing states, some of which had never been seen as vulnerable until this election, the Democrat appeared to have won at least seven. Only Missouri and North Carolina appeared to have been retained by John McCain, but with wafer-thin leads.

Mr Obama comfortably held on to Pennsylvania, which was viewed by many as Mr McCain's "last hope" given his frantic efforts to clinch it.

Pennsylvania had looked hopeful for the Republicans as they targeted Democrats who voted in large numbers for Hillary Clinton in the primaries. But even in the steel industry heartland of the state, where Mr Obama had been thrashed by Mrs Clinton, voters flocked to him. No Republican has ever won the presidency without Ohio but again Mr McCain failed to made headway. Crucially, exit polls in the state showed that 90 per cent had voted on the economy and 82 per cent disapproved of the war in Iraq, Mr Obama's strongest messages.

In Florida, which although famously close in 2000 actually increased its Republican vote in 2004, the Democrats won an impressive victory. Cuban-Americans, many persuaded by Mr Obama's pledge to increase family flights to their homeland, were crucial. The elderly population in Florida has also been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn, as many are on fixed incomes. Mr Obama's tough line supporting Israel secured Jewish votes too.

Mr Obama needed to win only one of the red battleground states to secure outright victory, whereas McCain needed nearly all of them.

Virginia, which hasn't voted Democrat since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide, was swayed by blue collar fears over the economy. But another essential demographic, the black vote, played a huge part as 97 per cent of African-Americans turned out.