The problem is that people demand instant gratification for fixes. Fixes with things like the economy will take a while, but the majority of the public won't accept that and only will accept instant gratification. They want taxes lowered and everything, even though it may make things worse.
Obama, and even our government, misguided though they may be, are trying to fix the issues caused by the previous governments (Labour's lowering of VAT to 15% to "encourage spending" just a year before they were on their way out just smacked of trying to screw the next government knowing they'd have to raise it to 20%) and it will take a while for it to be fixed. However, Obama and the current government are attempting to fix it, and sometimes they have to raise things to fix it, and people just see them as raising it and nothing being "fixed" yet.
I'm glad Obama won, I actually feared for the world if Romney did