On top of getting less votes than John McCain did in 2008, Mitt Romney also got fewer than John Kerry in 2004.
Kerry received 59,028,444 votes in his defeat to George W. Bush.
At press time, Romney is currently at 57,401,992 with few precincts left to report nationally.
This also means turnout this year was the lowest since 2000.
In 2004, the total was roughly 121 million. 2008 was around 131 million. This year is on track for less than 118 million.
As such, the most important statistic out of this election for Republicans has to be Romney getting the least votes of any major presidential candidate in 12 years despite the head of steam the GOP had coming out of the historic 2010 midterm elections.