President Barack Obama and the top Republican leaders in Congress immediately called for more a more bipartisan approach toward addressing the country’s economic challenges in the wake of Tuesday night’s election.

Whether the olive branches will survive more than a few days is yet to be determined, particularly as the White House and Congress begins tense negotiations in the coming days on how to deal with expiring tax cuts and mandatory spending reductions that begin in January. Democrats and Republicans have had staunchly different proposals about how to address the so-called “fiscal cliff,” and many businesses and households have worried that another political standoff could tip the economy into a recession.

But in the hours after the election, Mr. Obama, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R., Ohio) all said they wanted to reach common ground on core issues and work together, something they have had little success doing together in the past two years.

“You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours,” Mr. Obama told supporters Tuesday night. “And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together.”

The first two “challenges” he listed were “reducing our deficit” and “reforming our tax code.”