WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Tuesday won a second term in the White House, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney in a hard-fought election that served as a referendum on who could better ease Americans’ economic pain and uncertainty.

Obama marched across the nation, scoring victory after victory in battleground states where the economy had mounted just enough of a comeback to convince voters to give him four more years.

He held onto the coalition that led him to victory in 2008: women, Latinos, African-Americans and young people. Romney, seeking to become the first Mormon to win the presidency, was able to win only two states Obama had won last time, Indiana and North Carolina.