United States presidential election, 2012

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This article is about the United States presidential election held in 2012. For information about other elections held within the United States in 2012, see United States elections, 2012.
United States presidential election, 2012
← 2008 November 6, 2012 2016 →
538 members of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout 54.9%[1]
  President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop.jpg Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore 6 cropped.jpg
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Massachusetts
Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan
Electoral vote 332 206
States carried 26 + DC 24
Popular vote 65,915,796 60,933,500
Percentage 51.1% 47.2%
United States presidential election in Alabama, 2012 United States presidential election in Alaska, 2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, 2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas, 2012 United States presidential election in California, 2012 United States presidential election in Colorado, 2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, 2012 United States presidential election in Delaware, 2012 United States presidential election in Florida, 2012 United States presidential election in Georgia, 2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii, 2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, 2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, 2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, 2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, 2012 United States presidential election in Kansas, 2012 United States presidential election in Kentucky, 2012 United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2012 United States presidential election in Maine, 2012 United States presidential election in Maryland, 2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts, 2012 United States presidential election in Michigan, 2012 United States presidential election in Minnesota, 2012 United States presidential election in Mississippi, 2012 United States presidential election in Missouri, 2012 United States presidential election in Montana, 2012 United States presidential election in Nebraska, 2012 United States presidential election in Nevada, 2012 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, 2012 United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico, 2012 United States presidential election in New York, 2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina, 2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota, 2012 United States presidential election in Ohio, 2012 United States presidential election in Oklahoma, 2012 United States presidential election in Oregon, 2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania, 2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island, 2012 United States presidential election in South Carolina, 2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota, 2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee, 2012 United States presidential election in Texas, 2012 United States presidential election in Utah, 2012 United States presidential election in Vermont, 2012 United States presidential election in Virginia, 2012 United States presidential election in Washington, 2012 United States presidential election in West Virginia, 2012 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, 2012 United States presidential election in Wyoming, 2012 United States presidential election in Delaware, 2012 United States presidential election in Maryland, 2012 United States presidential election in New Hampshire, 2012 United States presidential election in New Jersey, 2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts, 2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, 2012 United States presidential election in West Virginia, 2012 United States presidential election in Vermont, 2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island, 2012ElectoralCollege2012.svg
About this image
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states/districts won by Obama/Biden. Red denotes those won by Romney/Ryan. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state.
President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

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The United States presidential election of 2012 was the 57th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. The Democratic nominee, incumbent President Barack Obama, and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, were elected to a second term, defeating the Republican nominee, former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, and his running mate, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

As the incumbent president, Obama secured the Democratic nomination with no serious opposition. The Republican Party was more fractured; Mitt Romney was consistently competitive in the polls, but faced challenges from a number of more conservative contenders whose popularity each fluctuated, often besting Romney's. Romney effectively secured the nomination by early May as the economy improved, albeit at a persistently laggard rate. The campaign was marked by a sharp rise in fundraising, including from new nominally independent Super PACs. The campaigns focused heavily on domestic issues: debate centered largely around sound responses to the Great Recession in terms of economic recovery and job creation. Other issues included long-term federal budget issues, the future of social insurance programs, and the Affordable Care Act. Foreign policy was also discussed including the phase-out of the Iraq War, the size of and spending on the military, preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and appropriate counteractions to terrorism.

Obama defeated Romney, winning both the popular vote and the electoral college, with 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206. He became the eleventh President and third Democrat to win a majority of the popular vote more than once. Obama carried all states and districts (among states that allocate electoral votes by district) that he had won in the 2008 presidential election except North Carolina, Indiana, and Nebraska's 2nd congressional district. However, his margin of victory decreased from 2008. Consequently, Obama became the first incumbent since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940 to get reelected with fewer electoral votes and a lower popular vote percentage.

The 2012 presidential election coincided with the United States Senate elections where 33 Senators faced re-election and the biennial United States House of Representatives elections to elect the members for the 113th Congress. Eleven gubernatorial elections and many elections for state legislatures also took place at the same time, as well as many local ballot initiatives.

Timeline

Final poll closing times on Election Day.
  7 p.m. EST [00:00 UTC] (6)
  7:30 p.m. EST [00:30 UTC] (3)
  8 p.m. EST [01:00 UTC] (15+DC)
  8:30 p.m. EST [01:30 UTC] (1)
  9 p.m. EST [02:00 UTC] (15)
  10 p.m. EST [03:00 UTC] (4)
  11 p.m. EST [04:00 UTC] (5)
  1 a.m. EST [06:00 UTC] (1)
  • September–October 2012: Early voting begins in some states and continue as late as November 5.[2]
  • November 6, 2012: Election Day; at around 11:15 p.m. EST, the networks call Ohio for Obama, projecting him the winner of the election.
  • November 7, 2012: Romney concedes the election to Obama at around 1:00 a.m. EST.
  • November 10, 2012: The electoral outcomes of all 50 states and the District of Columbia have been definitively projected (the electoral outcome in Florida remained uncertain until November 10). Obama won 332 electoral votes while Romney won 206 electoral votes.
  • December 17, 2012: The Electoral College formally re-elects President Obama and Vice President Biden.[3]
  • January 3, 2013: The 113th Congress is sworn in.
  • January 4, 2013: Electoral votes are formally counted before a joint session of Congress. The re-election of President Obama and Vice President Biden is certified.
  • January 20, 2013: President Obama and Vice President Biden take the oaths of office; Obama's second presidential term begins at noon.
  • January 21, 2013: The inauguration ceremonies are held.[4]

Electoral college changes

The 2010 Census changed the electoral vote apportionment for the presidential elections from 2012 to 2020 in the states listed below:

Changes in electoral vote apportionment (increases in green, decreases in orange) following the 2010 Census.[5]

States won by Democrats
in 2000, 2004, and 2008

  • Illinois −1
  • Massachusetts −1
  • Michigan −1
  • New Jersey −1
  • New York −2
  • Pennsylvania −1
  • Washington +1

States won by Republicans
in 2000, 2004, and 2008

  • Arizona +1
  • Georgia +1
  • Louisiana −1
  • Missouri −1
  • South Carolina +1
  • Texas +4
  • Utah +1

Swing states

  • Florida (Democratic in 2008, Republican in 2000 and 2004) +2
  • Iowa (Democratic in 2000 and 2008, Republican in 2004) −1
  • Nevada (Democratic in 2008, Republican in 2000 and 2004) +1
  • Ohio (Democratic in 2008, Republican in 2000 and 2004) −2
The electoral map in 2008.
Changes in electoral vote apportionment following the 2010 census.

Eight states (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Washington) gained votes due to reapportionment based on the 2010 Census. Ten states (Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) lost votes. This gave the Democratic Party a net loss of six electoral votes in states won by Democratic nominees in the previous three presidential elections, rendering the party a national total of 242 electoral votes. Conversely, the Republican Party achieved a net gain of six electoral votes in states won by Republican nominees in the previous three presidential elections, rendering the Republican Party a national total of 180 electoral votes.

State changes to voter registration and electoral rules

In 2011, several state legislatures passed new voting laws, especially pertaining to voter identification, with the stated purpose of combating voter fraud; the laws were attacked, however, by the Democratic Party as attempts to suppress voting among its supporters and to improve the Republican Party's presidential prospects. Florida, Georgia, Ohio,[6] Tennessee, and West Virginia's state legislatures approved measures to shorten early voting periods. Florida and Iowa barred all felons from voting. Kansas, South Carolina,[7] Tennessee, Texas[8] and Wisconsin[9] state legislatures passed laws requiring voters to have government-issued IDs before they could cast their ballots. This meant, typically, that people without driver's licenses or passports had to gain new forms of ID. Obama, the NAACP, and the Democratic Party fought against many of the new state laws.[10] Former President Bill Clinton denounced them, saying, "There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today".[11] He was referring to Jim Crow laws passed in southern states near the turn of the twentieth century that disenfranchised most blacks from voting and excluded them from the political process for more than six decades. Clinton said the moves would effectively disenfranchise core voter blocs that trend liberal, including college students, Blacks, and Latinos.[12][13] Rolling Stone magazine criticized the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for lobbying in states to bring about these laws, to "solve" a problem that does not exist.[10] The Obama campaign fought against the Ohio law, pushing for a petition and statewide referendum to repeal it in time for the 2012 election.[14]

In addition, the Pennsylvania legislature proposed a plan to change its representation in the electoral college from the traditional winner-take-all model to a district-by-district model.[15] As the governorship and both houses of its legislature were Republican-controlled, the move was viewed by some as an attempt to reduce Democratic chances.[16][17][18]

Nominations

Democratic Party

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Main articles: Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2012 and 2012 Democratic National Convention

Primaries

With an incumbent president running for re-election against token opposition, the race for the Democratic nomination was largely uneventful. The nomination process consisted of primaries and caucuses, held by the 50 states, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Democrats Abroad. Additionally, high-ranking party members known as superdelegates each received one vote in the convention. A few of the primary challengers surpassed the president's vote total in individual counties in several of the seven contested primaries, though none made a significant impact in the delegate count. Running unopposed everywhere else, President Obama cemented his status as the Democratic presumptive nominee on April 3, 2012 by securing the minimum number of pledged delegates needed to obtain the nomination.[19][20]

Candidates

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Main article: Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2012

Republican Party

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Main articles: Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012; Prelude to the Republican presidential primaries, 2012; Republican Party presidential debates, 2012; and 2012 Republican National Convention

Primaries

Candidates with considerable name recognition who entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination in the early stages of the primary campaign included Representative and former Libertarian nominee Ron Paul, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who co-chaired John McCain's campaign in 2008, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the runner-up for the nomination in the 2008 cycle, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

The first debate took place on May 5, 2011 in Greenville, South Carolina, with businessman Herman Cain, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum participating. Another debate took place a month later, with Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, and Rep. Michele Bachmann participating, and Gary Johnson excluded. A total of thirteen debates were held before the Iowa caucuses.

The first major event of the campaign was the Ames Straw Poll, which took place in Iowa on August 13, 2011. Michele Bachmann won the straw poll (this ultimately proved to be the acme of her campaign).[21] Pawlenty withdrew from the race after a poor showing in the straw poll, as did Thaddeus McCotter, the only candidate among those who qualified for the ballot who was refused entrance into the debate.[22]

It became clear at around this point in the nomination process that while Romney was considered to be the likely nominee by the Republican establishment, a large segment of the conservative primary electorate found him to be too moderate for their political views. As a result, a number of potential "anti-Romney" candidates were put forward,[23][24] including Donald Trump,[25] Sarah Palin,[26] Chris Christie,[27] and Texas Governor Rick Perry,[28] the last of whom decided to run in August 2011. Perry did poorly in the debates, however, and Herman Cain and then Newt Gingrich came into the fore in October and November.

Due to a number of scandals, Cain withdrew just before the end of the year, after having gotten on the ballot in several states.[29] Around the same time, Johnson, who had been able to get into only one other debate, withdrew to seek the Libertarian Party nomination.[30]

For the first time in modern Republican Party history, three different candidates won the first three state contests in January (the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, and the South Carolina primary).[31] Although Romney had been expected to win in at least Iowa and New Hampshire, Rick Santorum won the non-binding poll at caucus sites in Iowa by 34 votes, as near as can be determined from the incomplete tally, earning him a declaration as winner by state party leaders, although vote totals were missing from eight precincts.[32][33] The election of county delegates at the caucuses would eventually lead to Ron Paul earning 22 of the 28 Iowa delegates to the Republican National Convention.[34] Newt Gingrich won South Carolina by a surprisingly large margin,[35] and Romney won only in New Hampshire.

Those who understood the dynamics of the Iowa caucus process realized after the Iowa caucuses that Paul could dominate the delegate selection process at the Iowa Republican Convention,[36] but national media significantly underestimated Paul's delegate count during the first half of 2012. The New York Times and the Associated Press projected until the Iowa Republican convention in June that Paul would only get one Iowa delegate at the national convention.[37]

An accurate delegate projection would have had Paul in the lead after the January 3 Iowa caucuses and after the January 10 New Hampshire primary, where Romney earned 8 delegates, Paul earned 3 delegates and Jon Huntsman earned 1 delegate.[38]

A number of candidates dropped out at this point in the nomination process. Bachmann withdrew after finishing sixth in the Iowa caucuses,[39] Huntsman withdrew after coming in third in New Hampshire, and Perry withdrew when polls showed him drawing low numbers in South Carolina.[40]

Mitt Romney on the campaign trail.

Santorum, who had previously run an essentially one-state campaign in Iowa, was able to organize a national campaign after his surprising victory there. He unexpectedly carried three states in a row on February 7 and overtook Romney in nationwide opinion polls, becoming the only candidate in the race to effectively challenge the notion that Romney was the inevitable nominee.[41] However, Romney won all of the other contests between South Carolina and the Super Tuesday primaries, and regained his first-place status in nationwide opinion polls by the end of February.

The Super Tuesday primaries took place on March 6. Romney carried six states, Santorum carried three, and Gingrich won only in his home state of Georgia.[42] Throughout the rest of March, 266 delegates were allocated in 12 events, including the territorial contests and the first local conventions that allocated delegates (Wyoming's county conventions). Santorum won Kansas and three Southern primaries, but he was unable to make any substantial gain on Romney, who became a formidable frontrunner after securing more than half of the delegates allocated in March.

On April 10, Santorum suspended his campaign due to a variety of reasons, such as a low delegate count, unfavorable polls in his home state of Pennsylvania, and his daughter's health, leaving Mitt Romney as the undisputed front-runner for the presidential nomination and allowing Gingrich to claim that he was "the last conservative standing" in the campaign for the nomination.[43] After disappointing results in the April 24 primaries (finishing second in one state, third in three, and fourth in one[44]), Gingrich dropped out on May 2 in a move that was seen as an effective end to the nomination contest.[45] After Gingrich's spokesman announced his upcoming withdrawal, the Republican National Committee declared Romney the party's presumptive nominee.[46] Ron Paul officially remained in the race, but he stopped campaigning on May 14 to focus on state conventions.

On May 29, after winning the Texas primary, Romney had received a sufficient number of delegates to clinch the party's nomination with the inclusion of unpledged delegates. After winning the June 5 primaries in California and several other states, Romney had received more than enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination without counting unpledged delegates, making the June 26 Utah Primary, the last contest of the cycle, purely symbolic. CNN's final delegate estimate, released on July 27, 2012, put Romney at 1,462 pledged delegates and 62 unpledged delegates, for a total estimate of 1,524 delegates. No other candidate had unpledged delegates. The delegate estimates for the other candidates were Santorum at 261 delegates, Paul at 154, Gingrich at 142, Bachmann at 1, Huntsman at 1, and all others at 0.[47]

On August 28, 2012, delegates at the Republican National Convention officially named Romney the party's presidential nominee.[48] Romney formally accepted the delegates' nomination on August 30, 2012.[49]

Candidates

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Main article: Republican Party presidential candidates, 2012

Other nominations

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Main article: United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2012

Four other parties nominated candidates that had ballot access or write-in access to at least 270 electoral votes, the minimum number of votes needed in the 2012 election to win the presidency through a majority of the electoral college.

Libertarian Party

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Main articles: Libertarian Party (United States); 2012 Libertarian National Convention; and Gary Johnson presidential campaign, 2012

Green Party

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Main articles: Green Party of the United States; 2012 Green National Convention; and Jill Stein presidential campaign, 2012

Constitution Party

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Main articles: Constitution Party (United States); 2012 Constitution Party National Convention; and Virgil Goode presidential campaign, 2012

Justice Party

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Main articles: Justice Party (United States) and Rocky Anderson
Candidates gallery

Campaigns

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See also: Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2012; Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012; Gary Johnson presidential campaign, 2012; Jill Stein presidential campaign, 2012; and Virgil Goode presidential campaign, 2012

Ballot access

Presidential ticket Party Ballot access[87]  % of voters
seeing name on ballot		 Votes Percentage
Obama / Biden Democratic 50 + DC 100% 65,915,796 51.19
Romney / Ryan Republican 50 + DC 100% 60,933,500 47.32
Johnson / Gray Libertarian 48 + DC 95.1% 1,275,951 0.99
Stein / Honkala Green 36 + DC 83.1% 469,628 0.36
Goode / Clymer Constitution 26 49.9% 122,388 0.10
Anderson / Rodriguez Justice 15 28.1% 43,018 0.03
Lindsay / Osorio Socialism & Liberation 13 28.6% 7,791 0.006

All other candidates were on the ballots of fewer than 10 states, and less than 20% of voters nationwide saw their names on the ballot.

Financing and advertising

The United States presidential election of 2012 broke new records in financing, fundraising, and negative campaigning. Through grassroots campaign contributions, online donations, and Super PACs, Obama and Romney raised a combined total of more than $2 billion.[88] Super PACs constituted nearly one-fourth of the total financing, with most coming from pro-Romney PACs.[89] Obama raised $690 million through online channels, beating his record of $500 million in 2008.[90] Most of the advertising in the 2012 presidential campaign was decidedly negative—80% of Obama's ads and 84% of Romney's ads were negative.[91] The tax-exempt non-profit Americans for Prosperity, a so-called "outside group," that is, a political advocacy group that is not a political action committee or super-PAC, ran a television advertising campaign opposing Obama described by The Washington Post as "early and relentless."[92][93] Americans for Prosperity spent $8.4 million in swing states on television advertisements denouncing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 loan guarantee to Solyndra, a manufacturer of solar panels that went bankrupt,[94] an advertising campaign described by The Wall Street Journal in November 2011 as "perhaps the biggest attack on Mr. Obama so far."[95][96]

Party conventions

Map of United States showing Charlotte, Tampa, Nashville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Baltimore
Charlotte
Charlotte
Tampa
Tampa
Nashville
Nashville
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Baltimore
Baltimore
Sites of the 2012 national party conventions.

Debates

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Main article: United States presidential election debates, 2012

The Commission on Presidential Debates held four debates during the last weeks of the campaign: three presidential and one vice-presidential. The major issues debated were the economy and jobs, the federal budget deficit, taxation and spending, the future of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, healthcare reform, education, social issues, immigration, and foreign policy.

Debate schedule:

President Obama talks with Ron Klain during presidential debate preparations. Senator John Kerry, at podium, played the role of Mitt Romney during the preparatory sessions.

An independent presidential debate featuring minor party candidates took place on Tuesday, October 23 at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.[106][107] The debate was moderated by Larry King[108] and organized by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation.[107] The participants were Gary Johnson (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green), Virgil Goode (Constitution), and Rocky Anderson (Justice).[107][108] A second debate between Stein and Johnson took place on Monday, November 5 in Washington, D.C.[109][110] It was hosted by RT and moderated by Thom Hartmann and Christina Tobin.[111]

Notable expressions, phrases, and statements

  • Severely conservative – In a speech he made at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2012, Romney claimed that he had been a "severely conservative Republican governor". Romney's description of his record as "severely conservative" was widely criticized by political commentators as both rhetorically clumsy and factually inaccurate.[112][113][114] Later, the phrase "severely conservative" was frequently brought up by Democrats to make fun of Romney's willingness to associate himself with the far-right of the Republican Party as well as his apparent lack of sincerity while doing so.[115] Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who played the clip on his radio show, said: "I have never heard anybody say, 'I'm severely conservative.' "[116]
  • You didn't build that – A portion of a statement that Obama made in a July 2012 campaign speech in Roanoke, Virginia. Obama said that businesses depend on government-provided infrastructure to succeed, but critics of his remarks argued that he was underplaying the work of entrepreneurs and giving the government credit for individuals' success. The Romney campaign immediately jumped on the statement in an effort to drive a wedge between Obama and small business. A major theme of the 2012 Republican National Convention was "We Built It".
  • 47 percent – An expression Romney used at a private campaign fundraising event, which was secretly recorded and publicly released. At the private event, Romney said that 47 percent of the people would vote for Barack Obama no matter what Romney said or did because those people "...are dependent upon government... I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives".
  • Binders full of women – A phrase that Romney used in the second presidential debate to refer to the long list of female candidates that he considered when choosing his cabinet members as Governor of Massachusetts.
  • Shovel-ready jobs – a phrase used to describe some stimulus projects promoted by the administration. During the debate on September 23, 2011, Gary Johnson quipped, “My next-door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this president.” [117]
  • Romnesia – A term coined by a blogger in April 2011 and used by Obama late in the campaign to describe Romney's alleged inability to take responsibility for his past statements.[118][119]
  • $10,000 bet – During a Republican debate, Romney facetiously bet Texas governor Rick Perry $10,000 that he (Perry) was wrong about Romney's position on the individual mandate under the Affordable Healthcare Act. The statement was vilified by Democrats as exemplary of Romney being out of touch with the average American.
  • Romneyshambles – a phrase used by the British press after Romney criticized British preparations for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was a play on omnishambles. The phrase became a popular hashtag on Twitter and was later chosen as one of Collins English Dictionary's words of the year.[120][121]

Results

Popular vote totals are from the official Federal Election Commission report. The results of the electoral vote were certified by Congress on January 4, 2013.[122]

Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote		 Running mate
Count Pct Vice-presidential candidate Home state Elect. vote
Barack Obama (Incumbent) Democratic Illinois 65,915,796 51.06% 332 Joe Biden Delaware 332
Mitt Romney Republican Massachusetts 60,933,500 47.20% 206 Paul Ryan Wisconsin 206
Gary Johnson Libertarian New Mexico 1,275,971 0.99% 0 James P. Gray California 0
Jill Stein Green Massachusetts 469,627 0.36% 0 Cheri Honkala Pennsylvania 0
Virgil Goode Constitution Virginia 122,388 0.09% 0 Jim Clymer Pennsylvania 0
Roseanne Barr Peace and Freedom Hawaii 67,326 0.05% 0 Cindy Sheehan California 0
Rocky Anderson Justice Utah 43,018 0.03% 0 Luis J. Rodriguez California 0
Tom Hoefling America's Iowa 40,628 0.03% 0 Jonathan D. Ellis Tennessee 0
Other 217,148 0.17% — Other —
Total 129,085,403 100% 538 538
Needed to win 270 270
President Obama casts his ballot at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Chicago.
Popular vote
Obama
  
 51.06%
Romney
  
 47.20%
Johnson
  
 0.99%
Stein
  
 0.36%
Others
  
 0.38%
Electoral vote
Obama
  
 61.71%
Romney
  
 38.29%

Votes by electoral college

The table below displays the official vote tallies by each state's Electoral College voting method. The source for the results of all states, except those that amended their official results, is the official Federal Election Commission report. The column labeled "Margin" shows Obama's margin of victory over Romney (the margin is negative for states won by Romney).

States/districts won by Obama/Biden
States/districts won by Romney/Ryan

Electoral methods

  • WTA – Winner-takes-all
  • CD – Congressional district★
Barack Obama
Democratic		 Mitt Romney
Republican		 Gary Johnson
Libertarian		 Jill Stein
Green		 Others Margin Total
State or
district		 Electoral
method		 #  % Electoral
votes		 #  % Electoral
votes		 #  % Electoral
votes		 #  % Electoral
votes		 #  % Electoral
votes		 #  % #
Alabama WTA 795,696 38.36% – 1,255,925 60.55% 9 12,328 0.59% – 3,397 0.16% – 6,992 0.34% – –460,229 −22.19% 2,074,338 AL
Alaska WTA 122,640 40.81% – 164,676 54.80% 3 7,392 2.46% – 2,917 0.97% – 2,870 0.96% – –42,036 −13.99% 300,495 AK
Arizona WTA 1,025,232 44.59% – 1,233,654 53.65% 11 32,100 1.40% – 7,816 0.34% – 452 0.02% – –208,422 −9.06% 2,299,254 AZ
Arkansas WTA 394,409 36.88% – 647,744 60.57% 6 16,276 1.52% – 9,305 0.87% – 1,734 0.16% – –253,335 −23.69% 1,069,468 AR
California WTA 7,854,285 60.24% 55 4,839,958 37.12% – 143,221 1.10% – 85,638 0.66% – 115,445 0.89% – 3,014,327 23.12% 13,038,547 CA
Colorado WTA 1,323,101 51.49% 9 1,185,243 46.13% – 35,545 1.38% – 7,508 0.29% – 18,123 0.71% – 137,858 5.37% 2,569,520 CO
Connecticut WTA 905,083 58.06% 7 634,892 40.73% – 12,580 0.81% – 863 0.06% – 5,542 0.36% – 270,191 17.33% 1,558,960 CT
Delaware WTA 242,584 58.61% 3 165,484 39.98% – 3,882 0.94% – 1,940 0.47% – 31 0.01% – 77,100 18.63% 413,921 DE
District of ColumbiaD.C. WTA 267,070 90.91% 3 21,381 7.28% – 2,083 0.71% – 2,458 0.84% – 772 0.26% – 245,689 83.63% 293,764 DC
Florida WTA 4,237,756 50.01% 29 4,163,447 49.13% – 44,726 0.53% – 8,947 0.11% – 19,303 0.23% – 74,309 0.88% 8,474,179 FL
Georgia WTA 1,773,827 45.48% – 2,078,688 53.30% 16 45,324 1.16% – 1,516 0.04% – 695 0.02% – –304,861 −7.82% 3,900,050 GA
Hawaii WTA 306,658 70.55% 4 121,015 27.84% – 3,840 0.88% – 3,184 0.73% – 0 0.00% – 185,643 42.71% 434,697 HI
Idaho WTA 212,787 32.62% – 420,911 64.53% 4 9,453 1.45% – 4,402 0.67% – 4,721 0.72% – –208,124 −31.91% 652,274 ID
Illinois WTA 3,019,512 57.60% 20 2,135,216 40.73% – 56,229 1.07% – 30,222 0.58% – 835 0.02% – 884,296 16.87% 5,242,014 IL
Indiana WTA 1,152,887 43.93% – 1,420,543 54.13% 11 50,111 1.91% – 625 0.02% – 368 0.01% – –267,656 −10.20% 2,624,534 IN
Iowa WTA 822,544 51.99% 6 730,617 46.18% – 12,926 0.82% – 3,769 0.24% – 12,324 0.78% – 91,927 5.81% 1,582,180 IA
Kansas WTA 440,726 37.99% – 692,634 59.71% 6 20,456 1.76% – 714 0.06% – 5,441 0.47% – –251,908 −21.72% 1,159,971 KS
Kentucky WTA 679,370 37.80% – 1,087,190 60.49% 8 17,063 0.95% – 6,337 0.35% – 7,252 0.40% – –407,820 −22.69% 1,797,212 KY
Louisiana WTA 809,141 40.58% – 1,152,262 57.78% 8 18,157 0.91% – 6,978 0.35% – 7,527 0.38% – –343,121 −17.21% 1,994,065 LA
Maine (at-large) WTA 401,306 56.27% 2 292,276 40.98% – 9,352 1.31% – 8,119 1.14% – 2,127 0.30% – 109,030 15.29% 713,180 ME–a/l
Maine, 1st CD 223,035 59.57% 1 142,937 38.18% – 4,501 1.20% – 3,946 1.05% – N/A N/A – 80,098 21.39% 374,419 ME–1
Maine, 2nd CD 177,998 52.94% 1 149,215 44.38% – 4,843 1.44% – 4,170 1.24% – N/A N/A – 28,783 8.56% 336,226 ME–2
Maryland WTA 1,677,844 61.97% 10 971,869 35.90% – 30,195 1.12% – 17,110 0.63% – 10,309 0.38% – 705,975 26.08% 2,707,327 MD
Massachusetts WTA 1,921,290 60.65% 11 1,188,314 37.51% – 30,920 0.98% – 20,691 0.65% – 6,552 0.21% – 732,976 23.14% 3,167,767 MA
Michigan WTA 2,564,569 54.21% 16 2,115,256 44.71% – 7,774 0.16% – 21,897 0.46% – 21,465 0.45% – 449,313 9.50% 4,730,961 MI
Minnesota WTA 1,546,167 52.65% 10 1,320,225 44.96% – 35,098 1.20% – 13,023 0.44% – 22,048 0.75% – 225,942 7.69% 2,936,561 MN
Mississippi WTA 562,949 43.79% – 710,746 55.29% 6 6,676 0.52% – 1,588 0.12% – 3,625 0.28% – –147,797 −11.50% 1,285,584 MS
Missouri WTA 1,223,796 44.38% – 1,482,440 53.76% 10 43,151 1.56% – 0 0.00% – 7,936 0.29% – –258,644 −9.38% 2,757,323 MO
Montana WTA 201,839 41.70% – 267,928 55.35% 3 14,165 2.93% – 0 0.00% – 116 0.02% – –66,089 −13.65% 484,048 MT
Nebraska (at-large) WTA 302,081 38.03% – 475,064 59.80% 2 11,109 1.40% – 0 0.00% – 6,125 0.77% – –172,983 −21.78% 794,379 NE–a/l
Nebraska, 1st CD 108,082 40.95% – 152,021 57.59% 1 3,847 1.46% – 0 0.00% – N/A N/A – –43,939 −16.65% 263,950 NE–1
Nebraska, 2nd CD 121,889 45.78% – 140,976 52.95% 1 3,393 1.27% – 0 0.00% – N/A N/A – –19,087 −7.17% 266,258 NE–2
Nebraska, 3rd CD 72,110 27.94% – 182,067 70.56% 1 3,869 1.50% – 0 0.00% – N/A N/A – –109,957 −42.61% 258,046 NE–3
Nevada WTA 531,373 52.36% 6 463,567 45.68% – 10,968 1.08% – 0 0.00% – 9,010 0.89% – 67,806 6.68% 1,014,918 NV
New Hampshire WTA 369,561 51.98% 4 329,918 46.40% – 8,212 1.16% – 324 0.05% – 2,957 0.42% – 39,643 5.58% 710,972 NH
New Jersey[123] WTA 2,125,101 58.38% 14 1,477,568 40.59% – 21,045 0.58% – 9,888 0.27% – 6,690 0.18% – 647,533 17.81% 3,640,292 NJ
New Mexico WTA 415,335 52.99% 5 335,788 42.84% – 27,788 3.55% – 2,691 0.34% – 2,156 0.28% – 79,547 10.15% 783,758 NM
New York[124] WTA 4,485,741 63.35% 29 2,490,431 35.17% – 47,256 0.67% – 39,982 0.56% – 17,749 0.25% – 1,995,310 28.18% 7,081,159 NY
North Carolina WTA 2,178,391 48.35% – 2,270,395 50.39% 15 44,515 0.99% – 0 0.00% – 12,071 0.27% – –92,004 −2.04% 4,505,372 NC
North Dakota WTA 124,827 38.69% – 188,163 58.32% 3 5,231 1.62% – 1,361 0.42% – 3,045 0.94% – –63,336 −19.63% 322,627 ND
Ohio[125] WTA 2,827,710 50.67% 18 2,661,433 47.69% – 49,493 0.89% – 18,574 0.33% – 23,630 0.42% – 166,277 2.98% 5,580,840 OH
Oklahoma WTA 443,547 33.23% – 891,325 66.77% 7 0 0.00% – 0 0.00% – 0 0.00% – –447,778 −33.54% 1,334,872 OK
Oregon WTA 970,488 54.24% 7 754,175 42.15% – 24,089 1.35% – 19,427 1.09% – 21,091 1.18% – 216,313 12.09% 1,789,270 OR
Pennsylvania WTA 2,990,274 51.97% 20 2,680,434 46.59% – 49,991 0.87% – 21,341 0.37% – 11,630 0.20% – 309,840 5.39% 5,753,670 PA
Rhode Island WTA 279,677 62.70% 4 157,204 35.24% – 4,388 0.98% – 2,421 0.54% – 2,359 0.53% – 122,473 27.46% 446,049 RI
South Carolina WTA 865,941 44.09% – 1,071,645 54.56% 9 16,321 0.83% – 5,446 0.28% – 4,765 0.24% – –205,704 −10.47% 1,964,118 SC
South Dakota WTA 145,039 39.87% – 210,610 57.89% 3 5,795 1.59% – 0 0.00% – 2,371 0.65% – –65,571 −18.02% 363,815 SD
Tennessee WTA 960,709 39.08% – 1,462,330 59.48% 11 18,623 0.76% – 6,515 0.26% – 10,400 0.42% – –501,621 −20.40% 2,458,577 TN
Texas WTA 3,308,124 41.38% – 4,569,843 57.17% 38 88,580 1.11% – 24,657 0.31% – 2,647 0.03% – –1,261,719 −15.78% 7,993,851 TX
Utah WTA 251,813 24.75% – 740,600 72.79% 6 12,572 1.24% – 3,817 0.38% – 8,638 0.85% – –488,787 −48.04% 1,017,440 UT
Vermont WTA 199,239 66.57% 3 92,698 30.97% – 3,487 1.17% – 594 0.20% – 3,272 1.09% – 106,541 35.60% 299,290 VT
Virginia WTA 1,971,820 51.16% 13 1,822,522 47.28% – 31,216 0.81% – 8,627 0.22% – 20,304 0.53% – 149,298 3.87% 3,854,489 VA
Washington WTA 1,755,396 56.16% 12 1,290,670 41.29% – 42,202 1.35% – 20,928 0.67% – 16,320 0.52% – 464,726 14.87% 3,125,516 WA
West Virginia WTA 238,269 35.54% – 417,655 62.30% 5 6,302 0.94% – 4,406 0.66% – 3,806 0.57% – –179,386 −26.76% 670,438 WV
Wisconsin[126] WTA 1,620,985 52.83% 10 1,407,966 45.89% – 20,439 0.67% – 7,665 0.25% – 11,379 0.37% – 213,019 6.94% 3,068,434 WI
Wyoming WTA 69,286 27.82% – 170,962 68.64% 3 5,326 2.14% – 0 0.00% – 3,487 1.40% – –101,676 −40.82% 249,061 WY
U.S. Total – 65,915,796 51.06% 332 60,933,500 47.20% 206 1,275,971 0.99% – 469,628 0.36% – 490,508 0.38% – 4,982,296 3.86% 129,085,403 US

★Two states (Maine and Nebraska) allow for their electoral votes to be split between candidates. The winner within each congressional district gets one electoral vote for the district. The winner of the statewide vote gets two additional electoral votes.[127][128]

Close races

Swing from 2008 to 2012 in each state. Only six states trended more Democratic in 2012: Alaska, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, and New York. The arrows to the right represent how many places up or down on the list the state moved since 2008. States are listed by (increasing) percentage of Democratic votes.

Red denotes states (or congressional districts that contribute an electoral vote) won by Republican Mitt Romney; blue denotes those won by Democrat Barack Obama.

States where the margin of victory was under 5% (75 electoral votes):

  1. Florida, 0.88%
  2. North Carolina, 2.04%
  3. Ohio, 2.98%
  4. Virginia, 3.87%

States/districts where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10% (119 electoral votes):

  1. Colorado, 5.37%
  2. Pennsylvania, 5.39%
  3. New Hampshire, 5.58%
  4. Iowa, 5.81%
  5. Nevada, 6.68%
  6. Wisconsin, 6.94%
  7. Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District, 7.16%
  8. Minnesota, 7.69%
  9. Georgia, 7.82%
  10. Maine's 2nd Congressional District, 8.56%
  11. Arizona, 9.06%
  12. Missouri, 9.38%
  13. Michigan, 9.50%

Romney's concession

Obama takes a phone call from Romney conceding the election early Wednesday morning in Chicago.

After the networks called Ohio (the state that was arguably the most critical for Romney, as no Republican had ever won the Presidency without carrying it) for Obama at around 11:15 PM EST on Election Day, Romney was ready to concede the race, but hesitated when Karl Rove strenuously objected on Fox News to the network's decision to make that call.[129][130] However, after Colorado and Nevada were called for the President (giving Obama enough electoral votes to win even if Ohio were to leave his column), in tandem with Obama's apparent lead in Florida and Virginia (both were eventually called for Obama), Romney acknowledged that he had lost and conceded at around 1:00 AM EST on November 7.

Despite public polling showing Romney behind Obama in the swing states of Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Hampshire, tied with Obama in Virginia, and just barely ahead of Obama in Florida, the Romney campaign said they were genuinely surprised by the loss, having believed that public polling was oversampling Democrats.[131] The Romney campaign had already set up a transition website, and had scheduled and purchased a fireworks display to celebrate in case he won the election.[132][133]

On November 30, 2012, it was revealed that shortly before the election, internal polling done by the Romney campaign had shown Romney ahead in Colorado and New Hampshire, tied in Iowa, and within a few points of Obama in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Ohio.[134] In addition, the Romney campaign had assumed that they would win Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia.[135] The polls had made Romney and his campaign team so confident of their victory that Romney did not write a concession speech until Obama's victory was announced.[136][137]

Reactions

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Further information: International reactions to the United States presidential election, 2012

Foreign leaders reacted with both positive and mixed messages. Most world leaders congratulated and praised Barack Obama on his re-election victory. However, Venezuela and some other states had tempered reactions. Pakistan commented that Romney's defeat had made Pakistan-United States relations safer. Stock markets fell noticeably after Obama's re-election, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ, and the S&P 500 each declining over two percent the day after the election.[138]

Voter demographics

2012 Presidential vote by demographic subgroup
Demographic subgroup Obama Romney Other  % of
total vote
Total vote 51 47 2 100
Ideology
Liberals 86 11 3 25
Moderates 56 41 3 41
Conservatives 17 82 1 35
Party
Democrats 92 7 1 38
Republicans 6 93 1 32
Independents 45 50 5 29
Gender
Men 45 52 3 47
Women 55 44 1 53
Gender by marital status
Married men 38 60 2 29
Married women 46 53 1 31
Non-married men 56 40 4 18
Non-married women 67 31 2 23
Race/ethnicity
White 39 59 2 72
Black 93 6 1 13
Asian 73 26 1 3
Other 58 38 4 2
Hispanic 71 27 2 10
Religion
Protestant or other Christian 43 56 1 51
Catholic 50 48 2 25
Mormon 21 78 1 2
Jewish 69 30 1 2
Other 74 23 3 7
None 70 26 4 12
Religious service attendance
More than once a week 36 63 1 14
Once a week 41 58 1 28
A few times a month 55 44 1 13
A few times a year 56 42 2 27
Never 62 34 4 17
White evangelical or born-again Christian?
White evangelical or born-again Christian 21 78 1 26
Everyone else 60 37 3 74
Age
18–24 years old 60 36 4 11
25–29 years old 60 38 2 8
30–39 years old 55 42 3 17
40–49 years old 48 50 2 20
50–64 years old 47 52 1 28
65 and older 44 56 0 16
Sexual orientation
Gay, lesbian, or bisexual 76 22 2 5
Heterosexual 49 49 2 95
Education
Not a high school graduate 64 35 1 3
High school graduate 51 48 1 21
Some college education 49 48 3 29
College graduate 47 51 2 29
Postgraduate education 55 42 3 18
Family income
Under $30,000 63 35 2 20
$30,000–49,999 57 42 1 21
$50,000–99,999 46 52 2 31
$100,000–199,999 44 54 2 21
$200,000–249,999 47 52 1 3
Over $250,000 42 55 3 4
Region
Northeast 59 39 2 21
Midwest 51 47 2 24
South 44 54 2 34
West 54 43 3 21
Community size
Big cities (population over 500,000) 69 29 2 11
Mid-sized cities (population 50,000 to 500,000) 58 40 2 21
Suburbs 48 50 2 47
Towns (population 10,000 to 50,000) 42 56 2 8
Rural areas 37 61 2 14

Source: Exit polls conducted by Edison Research of Somerville, New Jersey, for the National Election Pool, a consortium of ABC News, Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News,[139] and NBC News.[140] Total vote and results by region are based on the "Votes by state" section of this article.

Analysis

Combined with the re-elections of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Obama's victory in the 2012 election marked only the second time in American history that three consecutive presidents were each elected to two or more full terms (the first time being the consecutive two-term presidencies of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe).[141] This was also the first election since 1944 in which neither of the major candidates had any military experience.[142]

The 2012 election marked the first time since Franklin D. Roosevelt's last two re-elections in 1940 and 1944 that a Democratic presidential candidate won a majority of the popular vote in two consecutive elections.[143] Obama was also the first president of either party to secure at least 51% of the popular vote in two elections since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956.[144] Obama is the third Democratic president to secure at least 51% of the vote twice, after Andrew Jackson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.[145]

Romney lost his home state of Massachusetts, becoming the first major party presidential candidate to lose his home state since Democrat Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee to Republican George W. Bush in the 2000 election.[146] Romney lost his home state by more than 23%, the worst losing margin for a major party candidate since John Frémont in 1856.[147] Even worse than Frémont, Romney failed to win a single county in his home state.[148][149] In addition, since Obama carried Ryan's home state of Wisconsin, the Romney–Ryan ticket was the first major party ticket since the 1972 election to have both of its nominees lose their home states.[150]

Gary Johnson's popular vote total set a Libertarian Party record, and his popular vote percentage is the second-best showing for a Libertarian in a presidential election, trailing only Ed Clark's in 1980.[151]

Romney won the popular vote in every county of three states: Utah, Oklahoma, and West Virginia; Obama did so in four states: Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Hawaii.[152]

Obama's vote total was the second most votes received in the history of presidential elections and the most ever for a reelected president. Obama owns the all-time record for votes in a single election as well in 2008.

Maps

  • Cartogram of the electoral vote results, with each square representing one electoral vote.

  • Results by county. Blue denotes counties that went to Obama; red denotes counties that went to Romney. Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont had all counties go to Obama. Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia had all counties go to Romney.

  • Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote.

  • Popular vote by county shaded on a scale from red/Republican to blue/Democratic.

  • Cartogram of popular vote by county shaded on a scale from red/Republican to blue/Democratic where each county has been rescaled in proportion to its population.

  • Change in popular vote margins at the county level from the 2008 election to the 2012 election. Blue denotes counties that voted more Democratic. Red denotes counties that voted more Republican. Romney's strongest improvements over McCain were in Utah and Appalachia, while Obama's strongest gains were in Alaska, the New York area, and the Gulf states.

  • 2012 Presidential Election, Results by Congressional District.

  • Treemap of the popular vote by county, state, and locally predominant recipient.

Gallery

  • The Empire State Building in New York City was lit blue when CNN called Ohio for Obama, projecting him the winner of the election. Likewise, red would have been used if Romney won.[153]

  • The Obamas and the Bidens embrace following the television announcement of their victory.

  • The Obamas and the Bidens walk on stage at the election night victory celebration at McCormick Place in Chicago.

  • Former Governor Mitt Romney meets with President Barack Obama at the White House after the 2012 presidential election.

See also

References

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Further reading

  • Hansen, Wendy L., Michael S. Rocca, and Brittany Leigh Ortiz. "The effects of Citizens United on corporate spending in the 2012 presidential election." Journal of Politics 77.2 (2015): 535-545. in JSTOR
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Masket, Seth, John Sides, and Lynn Vavreck. "The Ground Game in the 2012 Presidential Election." Political Communication (2015) 33#2 pp: 1-19.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Scholars explore nominations in the post-public-funding era, digital media and campaigns, television coverage, and the Tea Party.
  • Miller, William J., ed. The 2012 Nomination and the Future of the Republican Party: The Internal Battle (Lexington Books; 2013) 265 pages; essays by experts on Romney and each of his main rivals
  • Nelson, Michael, ed. The Elections of 2012 (2013) excerpt and text search; topical essays by experts
  • Sides, John, and Lynn Vavreck. The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election (Princeton U.P. 2013) excerpt and text search[dead link]

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