2012 United States presidential election
Obama was the first incumbent since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 to win reelection with fewer electoral votes and a smaller popular vote margin than had been won in the previous election, and was also the first two-term president since Ronald Reagan to win both his presidential bids with a majority of the nationwide popular vote (50% or more), and the first Democrat to do so since Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was also the first presidential election since 1944 in which neither the Republican nor the Democratic nominee had military experience.


2012 United States presidential election
Obama did not hold onto Indiana, North Carolina, or Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, but crucially won all 18 "blue wall" states and defeated Romney in other swing states the Republicans had won in 2000 and 2004, most notably Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. Ultimately, of the nine swing states identified by The Washington Post in the 2012 election, Obama won eight, losing only North Carolina. As of 2021, this is the most recent presidential election in which an incumbent president was re-elected to a second term. This is also the most recent presidential election when the Democratic candidate won the states of Iowa, Ohio, and Florida, along with Maine's 2nd congressional district.


2012 United States presidential election
All four major candidates for president and vice president went on to hold significant public office after this election. Obama served his second term as president and was succeeded by Donald Trump in 2016. Biden also served his second term as vice president and was succeeded by Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, but was elected president by defeating Trump four years later in 2020. Romney initially retired from politics and moved to Utah in 2014 but was later elected to the Senate there in 2018, succeeding Orrin Hatch, while Ryan served three more terms in the House and eventually became Speaker from 2015 until his retirement from politics in 2019.


2012 United States presidential election
This was the first election in which a major party nominee lost his home state since Al Gore lost Tennessee in 2000, as Mitt Romney lost his home state of Massachusetts.


2012 United States presidential election
As of 2021, this was the last presidential election that did not feature a woman on either major party’s ticket.


2012 United States presidential election, 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, 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, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin state legislatures passed laws requiring voters to have government-issued IDs before they could cast their ballots.


2012 United States presidential election, State changes to voter registration and electoral rules
This meant, typically, that people without driver's licenses or passports had to gain new forms of ID. 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". 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. The Obama campaign fought against the Ohio law, pushing for a petition and statewide referendum to repeal it in time for the 2012 election.


2012 United States presidential election, State changes to voter registration and electoral rules
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. 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. Ultimately they did not do it, leaving their winner take all format intact as of 2020.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination, 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, 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
Candidates with considerable name recognition who entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination in the early stages of the primary campaign included U.S. 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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 Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann participating, and Gary Johnson excluded. A total of thirteen debates were held before the Iowa caucuses.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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). 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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, including future President Donald Trump, former Alaska Governor and 2008 vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Texas Governor Rick Perry, 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 to the fore in October and November.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
Due to a number of scandals, Cain withdrew just before the end of the year, after having gotten on the ballot in several states. Around the same time, Johnson, who had been able to get into only one other debate, withdrew to seek the Libertarian Party nomination.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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). 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 could be determined from the incomplete tally, earning him a declaration as winner by state party leaders, although vote totals were missing from eight precincts. 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. Newt Gingrich won South Carolina by a surprisingly large margin, and Romney won only in New Hampshire.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
A number of candidates dropped out at this point in the nomination process. Bachmann withdrew after finishing sixth in the Iowa caucuses, Huntsman withdrew after coming in third in New Hampshire, and Perry withdrew when polls showed him drawing low numbers in South Carolina.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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. 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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. 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
After disappointing results in the April 24 primaries (finishing second in one state, third in three, and fourth in one), Gingrich dropped out on May 2 in a move that was seen as an effective end to the contest for the nomination. After Gingrich's spokesman announced his upcoming withdrawal, the Republican National Committee declared Romney the party's presumptive nominee. Ron Paul officially remained in the race, but he stopped campaigning on May 14 to focus on state conventions.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Primaries
On August 28, 2012, delegates at the Republican National Convention officially named Romney the party's presidential nominee. Romney formally accepted the delegates' nomination on August 30, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election, Nominations, Third party and other nominations
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Campaigns, Ballot access
Candidates in bold were on ballots representing 270 electoral votes.


2012 United States presidential election, Campaigns, Ballot access
All other candidates were on the ballots of fewer than 10 states, 100 electors, and less than 20% of voters nationwide.


2012 United States presidential election, Campaigns, 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. Super PACs constituted nearly one-fourth of the total financing, with most coming from pro-Romney PACs. Obama raised $690 million through online channels, beating his record of $500 million in 2008. 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Campaigns, Financing and advertising
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". 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, an advertising campaign described by The Wall Street Journal in November 2011 as "perhaps the biggest attack on Mr. Obama so far".


2012 United States presidential election, Campaigns, Presidential debates
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Campaigns, Presidential debates
An independent presidential debate featuring minor party candidates took place on Tuesday, October 23 at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The debate was moderated by Larry King and organized by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation. The participants were Gary Johnson (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green), Virgil Goode (Constitution), and Rocky Anderson (Justice). A second debate between Stein and Johnson took place on Sunday, November 4, and was moderated by Ralph Nader.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Electoral results
On the day of the election, spread betting firm Spreadex were offering an Obama Electoral College Votes spread of 296–300 to Romney's 239–243. In reality Obama's victory over Romney was far greater, winning 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206. Romney lost all but one of nine battleground states, and received 47 percent of the nationwide popular vote to Obama's 51 percent.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Electoral results
Popular vote totals are from the Federal Election Commission report. The results of the electoral vote were certified by Congress on January 4, 2013.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Results by state
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 every state that Romney won).


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Results by state
Maine and Nebraska each allow for their election results 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. In the 2012 election, all four of Maine's electoral votes were won by Obama and all five of Nebraska's electoral votes were won by Romney.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
Red denotes states (or congressional districts that contribute an electoral vote) won by Republican Mitt Romney; blue denotes those won by Democrat Barack Obama.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
State where the margin of victory was under 1% (29 electoral votes):


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
States where the margin of victory was under 5% (46 electoral votes):


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
States/districts where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10% (120 electoral votes):


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Romney's concession
After the networks called Ohio (the state that was arguably the most critical for Romney, as no Republican has 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Romney's concession
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Romney's concession
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. 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Romney's concession
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. In addition, the Romney campaign had assumed that they would win Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Results, Reactions
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Voter demographics, Hispanic vote
The United States has a population of 50 million Hispanic and Latino Americans, 27 million of whom are citizens eligible to vote (13% of total eligible voters). Traditionally, only half of eligible Hispanic voters vote (around 7% of voters); of them, 71% voted for Barack Obama (increasing his percentage of the vote by 5%); therefore, the Hispanic vote was an important factor in Obama's re-election, since the vote difference between the two main parties was only 3.9%


2012 United States presidential election, Voter demographics, Hispanic vote
Exit polls were 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, and NBC News.


2012 United States presidential election, 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). This was also the first election since 1944 in which neither of the major candidates had any military experience.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
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. 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. Obama is the third Democratic president to secure at least 51% of the vote twice, after Andrew Jackson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
Romney won the popular vote in 226 congressional districts making this the first time since 1960 that the winner of the election did not win the popular vote in a majority of the congressional districts. Romney also became the first Republican since Gerald Ford's narrow defeat to Jimmy Carter, in 1976, to fail to win a presidential election while earning a minimum of 200 electoral votes. The same feat would also later repeat itself when Donald Trump lost the 2020 Presidential Election to Joe Biden with earning at least that number of electoral votes.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
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. Romney lost his home state by more than 23%, the worst losing margin for a major party candidate since John Frémont in 1856. Even worse than Frémont, Romney failed to win a single county in his home state.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
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. 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
Romney's loss prompted the Republican National Committee to try to appeal to the American Latino population by concentrating on different approaches to immigration. These were short-lived due to activity and anger from the Republican base and may have contributed to the selection of Donald Trump as their presidential candidate four years later.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
Gary Johnson's popular vote total set a Libertarian Party record, and his popular vote percentage was the second-best showing for a Libertarian in a presidential election, trailing only Ed Clark's in 1980. Johnson would go on to beat this record in the 2016 presidential election, winning the most votes for the Libertarian ticket in history. At the time, Green Party candidate Jill Stein's popular vote total made her the most successful female presidential candidate in a general election in United States history. This was later surpassed by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
Obama's vote total was the fourth most votes received in the history of presidential elections (behind Obama's 2008 victory and both major candidates in 2020) and the most ever for a reelected president.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
However, Obama also became the first president in American history to be reelected to a second term by smaller margins in every way possible: Compared to his victory in 2008, he won fewer states (28 to 26), fewer electoral votes (365 to 332), fewer popular votes (69.5 million to 65.9 million), a smaller percentage of the popular vote (52.9% to 51.1%), and fewer congressional districts (242 to 209). Woodrow Wilson is the only other two-term president in United States history to win with fewer electoral votes in their second election (Franklin D. Roosevelt won with less in his third election than in his second).


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
The 2012 election marked the first time since 1988 in which no state was won by a candidate with a plurality of the state's popular vote. All states were won with over 50% of the vote.


2012 United States presidential election, Analysis
So far, this is the only presidential election in history where both the Republican and Democratic vice presidential candidates are practicing Roman Catholics. It is also the only presidential election where there are no white Protestants on either major party ticket.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
Results by state, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
Popular vote by county shaded on a scale from red/Republican to blue/Democratic.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
Results by state and the District of Columbia, scaled by number of Electors per state.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
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.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
Cartogram of the electoral vote results, with each square representing one electoral vote.


2012 United States presidential election, Maps
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 United States presidential election, Maps
Treemap of the popular vote by county, state, and locally predominant recipient


2012 United States presidential election, 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.


2012 United States presidential election, Gallery
The Obamas and the Bidens embrace following the television announcement of their victory.


2012 United States presidential election, Gallery
The Obamas and the Bidens walk on stage at the election night victory celebration at McCormick Place in Chicago.


2012 United States presidential election, Gallery
Former Governor Mitt Romney meets with President Barack Obama at the White House after the 2012 presidential election.


2012 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 2012 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 general election, in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Alabama voters chose nine electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Alabama
In 2008, Alabama was won by Republican nominee John McCain with a 21.58% margin of victory. Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered it a safe red state. Located in the Deep South, Alabama is one of the most conservative states in the country. Alabama has not gone Democratic since it was won by Jimmy Carter in 1976.


2012 United States presidential election in Alabama
Romney won the election in Alabama with 60.55% of the vote, while Obama received 38.36%, a 22.19% margin of victory. While the state swung slightly more Republican from 2008, Obama flipped two McCain counties, Barbour and Conecuh, into the Democratic column, thereby making it the last time either county voted for a Democratic nominee as of 2021.


2012 United States presidential election in Alabama, Democratic primary
On March 13, 2012, the Alabama Democratic Party held statewide primaries to select delegates for the Democratic nomination, taking place on the same day as the Mississippi Democratic primary and the Utah Democratic caucuses. Incumbent Barack Obama ran unopposed. However, voters also had the option of voting "uncommitted" rather than supporting Obama. Of the 286,780 votes cast, 241,167 (84.09%) were for Obama and 45,613 (15.91%) were uncommitted. Out of the 63 pledged delegates, 55 went to Obama and 8 were uncommitted. The floor vote at the Democratic National Convention allocated all of Alabama's 69 delegates to Obama. Obama won all but 6 counties in the state.


2012 United States presidential election in Alabama, Republican primary
The 2012 Alabama Republican primary took place on March 13, 2012, on the same day as the Mississippi Republican primary and the Hawaii Republican caucuses. Rick Santorum was declared the winner.


2012 United States presidential election in Alabama, General election, Polling
Opinion polls that have been taken in Alabama have consistently showed Mitt Romney to be leading Barack Obama.


2012 United States presidential election in Alaska
The 2012 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Alaska voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Alaska
Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Romney won the state of Alaska with 54.80% of the vote, while Obama received 40.81%. This was the first time since 1968 that a Democrat received more than 40% of the vote in Alaska. No Democrat has won Alaska since it was won by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.


2012 United States presidential election in Alaska
While Romney handily won its three electoral votes, it was one of six states to swing toward Obama relative to 2008, when Alaska was won with a 21.5% margin of victory by Republican nominee John McCain running with the incumbent Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his vice-presidential candidate. Obama closed his margin of defeat by 7.55% compared to his 2008 loss, thereby making it the state with the strongest Democratic gain in 2012. He also flipped eight boroughs and census areas he had lost in 2008.


2012 United States presidential election in Alaska, Caucuses, Democratic caucuses
The Alaska Democratic caucuses were held from April 10 to 14, 2012, with the state party convention being held from May 11 to 13. Precincts within House Districts combined to hold caucuses to pledge delegates to the State Convention. Obama ran mostly unopposed (with the exception of Randall Terry, who was on the ballot but received no votes) and consequently received all of the 500 popular votes and 24 delegates.


2012 United States presidential election in Alaska, Caucuses, Republican caucuses
The Alaska Republican caucuses were held Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012. The presidential preference poll portion of the caucuses was scheduled between 4 pm and 8 pm local time (which is 8 pm to midnight EST) at locations across the state and one caucus in Washington, D.C.


2012 United States presidential election in Alaska, Caucuses, Republican caucuses
Similar to the 2012 Nevada caucuses, the results of the presidential preference poll will be used to directly and proportionately apportion 24 national convention delegates among the candidates. Another 3 super delegates are unbound and not determined by the caucus results.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona
The 2012 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. State voters chose 10 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona
Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Arizona was won by Romney with a 9.03% margin. This is the most recent presidential election when Arizona failed to back the winning candidate of the Electoral College and the presidency, and when the Democratic candidate won the general election without winning Arizona in addition.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona
Until 2020, Arizona had been won by the Republican nominee for president in every election since 1952, except when Bill Clinton narrowly carried the state over Bob Dole in 1996. No Democratic presidential nominee has won a majority in the state since Harry S. Truman in 1948, and the 2012 election remains the most recent presidential election in which any candidate won a majority of the vote.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Democratic primary
Incumbent president Barack Obama won all the delegates and was renominated during the Democratic National Convention on September 5, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary
The Republican primary was a closed primary that took place on February 28, 2012. More than 1,130,000 registered Republican voters participated in the event, the purpose of which was to select delegates from the state to attend the Republican National Convention on behalf of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. The Republican National Committee removed half of Arizona's delegate allocation because the state committee moved its Republican primary before March 6. Arizona therefore held a ballot to select 29 proportionally-allocated delegates. This election occurred the same day as the Michigan Republican primary.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary
The Arizona primary was set as a winner-take-all contest, another violation of RNC delegate allocation rules, which require proportional allocation for all primaries held before April 1. Endorsements from 2008 primary rival and U.S. Senator John McCain and Governor Jan Brewer helped add to the prospects of a victory for Romney in Arizona.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Project White House
The small alternative newspaper Tucson Weekly, for the second election in a row, has sponsored an event called "Project White House" in which it gets as many ordinary citizens on the ballot as it possibly can. Afterward, a series of "reality show style" competitions occurred, including candidate meet-and-greets, and two televised debates which were sponsored by the Tucson Weekly, a local public-access television show called Illegal Knowledge, and local public television stations.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Project White House, Project White House Debates
The two debates took place on February 18 and February 19, 2012, both were commercial-free, one hour long each, and both aired on Access Tucson while they were streamed live on the internet. Both debates were produced in conjunction with Project White House and Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Project White House, Project White House Debates
The first debate, held on the 18th at 8 pm MST, produced by Illegal Knowledge and hosted by Dave Maass of San Diego CityBeat, had nine participants, composed of eight lesser known Republican candidates (Donald Benjamin, Simon Bollander, Cesar Cisneros, Kip Dean, Sarah Gonzales, Al "Dick" Perry, Charles Skelley and Jim Terr) and one Green Party candidate (Michael Oatman). A press release regarding this first debate was distributed which invited all candidates listed on either Republican or Green Party ballots in Arizona to the first debate, although none of the major Republican or Green Party candidates appeared.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Project White House, Project White House Debates
The second debate, held on the 19th at 7pm MST, produced by Access Tucson and hosted by both Dave Maass of San Diego CityBeat and Amanda Hurley of The University of Arizona School of Journalism, was restricted only to Republican candidates and featured seven of the eight lesser known Republican candidates from the previous night (less Cesar Cisneros).


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Project White House, Project White House Debates
There was a third Arizona debate which took place in Mesa, AZ on February 22, 2012, but was not associated with Project White House and had only invited the four major Republican candidates to participate.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Project White House, Project White House Debates
Two lesser known candidates appearing in the first debates, Sarah Gonzales (who placed sixth) and Michael Oatman (who placed tied for third), placed ahead of their better known Republican and Green Party counterparts (Buddy Roemer and Gerard Davis respectively) in the Arizona Presidential Preference Election Results from February 28, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Campaign
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum were contesting and campaigning in the Arizona primary.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Campaign
Televised debates in Arizona were held on February 18 and 19, 2012, on Public-access television and February 22, 2012, on CNN. Only the major Republican candidates, except for Roemer, were invited to the third, and none of them attended the first two.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Campaign
Twenty-three candidates appeared on the presidential primary ballot, 11 of whom are residents of the state.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Results
Arizona was allocated 29 delegates because it moved its primary to February 28.


2012 United States presidential election in Arizona, Republican primary, Results
Results with 100.0% (722 of 722 precincts) reporting (510,258 votes total) () :


2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Arkansas voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Romney and Ryan carried Arkansas with 60.57% of the popular vote to Obama's and Biden's 36.88%, winning the state's six electoral votes. While Arkansas had been won by the Democrats as recently as 1996 by native son Bill Clinton, Obama proved a poor fit for the state, and his 23.69% margin of loss was the worst defeat for a Democratic presidential candidate in Arkansas since 1972's margin of 38.1%. Obama also was defeated by a larger margin in Arkansas than Walter Mondale in 1984.


2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas
As of 2020, this is the most recent election in which Woodruff County voted for the Democratic candidate. This is also the most recent election Arkansas voted to the left of Utah and the first election since 1984 where either nominee received 60% of the vote.


2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Democratic primary
The Democratic primary had 47 delegates at stake. All 47 delegates were allocated to, and pledged to vote for Barack Obama at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. While John Wolfe Jr. qualified for 19 delegates to the convention by virtue of his performances in Arkansas, State party officials  said Wolfe missed two paperwork filing deadlines related to the delegate process, therefore he was not eligible for any delegates. Wolfe has commenced legal proceedings to have delegates in his name seated. Eight other unpledged delegates, known as superdelegates, also attended the convention and cast their votes as well.


2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Republican primary
The Republican primary had 33 delegates at stake. Mitt Romney won all 75 counties in Arkansas. As a result, all 33 delegates were allocated to, and pledged to vote for Mitt Romney at the 2012 Republican National Convention.


2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Republican primary
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich withdrew from the [presidential race on April 10 and May 2, 2012, respectively. Both endorsed Mitt Romney as the nominee.


2012 United States presidential election in California
The 2012 United States presidential election in California took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. California voters chose 55 electors, the most out of any state, to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in California
Prior to the election, every major news network considered California to be a state Obama would win or as a safe blue state. According to Secretary of State Debra Bowen's website, the President won the popular vote with 60.24 percent, with Mitt Romney in second place at 37.12%, and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in third place at 1.10%. The Democrats have won the state in every presidential election after Republican George H. W. Bush won the state in 1988.


2012 United States presidential election in California
As of 2020, this is the most recent presidential election in which the nominee from the Republican Party won Orange County—a longtime, traditional bastion for the national GOP—and Nevada County. This is also the most recent election where California voted more Republican than New York, as of 2020. California voted 5.06% to the right of New York this election. With its 55 electoral votes, California was Obama's largest electoral prize in 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Democratic primary
The 2012 California Democratic presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries.


2012 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Republican primary
The 2012 California Republican Party presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries. 169 delegates were chosen, for a total of 172 delegates at the 2012 Republican National Convention.


2012 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Republican primary
As noted in the Green Papers for California, "159 district delegates are to be bound to presidential contenders based on the primary results in each of the 53 congressional districts: each congressional district is assigned 3 National Convention delegates and the presidential contender receiving the greatest number of votes in that district will receive all 3 of that district's National Convention delegates. 10 at-large delegates (10 base at-large delegates plus 0 bonus delegate) are to be bound to the presidential contender receiving the greatest number of votes in the primary statewide. In addition, 3 party leaders, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the California's Republican Party, will attend the convention as unpledged delegates by virtue of their position."


2012 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Green primary
The 2012 California Green Party presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Green Party presidential primaries.


2012 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Libertarian primary
The 2012 California Libertarian Party presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries.


2012 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Libertarian primary
The primary was non-binding, and took place after Gary Johnson had already won the Libertarian nomination at the Party's 2012 convention.


2012 United States presidential election in California, Primaries, Other parties, American Independent
The American Independent Party,  a far-right and paleoconservative political party that formed when endorsing the candidacy of George Wallace in 1968 held a small presidential primary on June 5. It was won by Edward C. Noonan. However, the party would instead opt to nominate Tom Hoefling for president.


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 2012 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Colorado voters chose nine electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. Obama and Biden carried Colorado with 51.49%  of the popular vote to Romney's and Ryan's 46.13%, thus winning the state's nine electoral votes by a 5.36% margin.


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado
As in 2008, the key to Obama's victory was Democratic dominance in the Denver area, sweeping not just the city but also the heavily populated suburban counties around Denver, particularly Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson counties; as well as winning Larimer County, home to Fort Collins. Obama also took nearly 70% of the vote in Boulder County, home to Boulder; and won Chaffee County, which he had lost to McCain in 2008. Romney's most populated county wins were in El Paso County, where Colorado Springs is located; and Weld County, a suburb of Denver and home to Greeley.


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado
This election solidified Colorado's transformation from a historically Republican-leaning state into a Democratic-leaning swing state. Obama's 2012 victory in the state, on the heels of his 2008 victory, marked the first time that the Democrats had carried Colorado in two consecutive elections since the landslide re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. It was also the first time Colorado had voted Democratic in a close election since 1948.


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado
Colorado served as the tipping-point state for Obama's overall victory in the presidential election; that is, the first state to give a candidate their 270th electoral vote when all states are arranged by their margins of victory. Colorado was also the tipping-point state for Obama's 2008 victory. This marks the second time in history that a president was elected and re-elected by winning the same tipping-point state, after Richard Nixon was carried to victory by Ohio twice in 1968 and 1972.


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado
As of 2020, this is the most recent time rural Conejos County, Huerfano County, and Las Animas County voted for the Democratic candidate. This is also the last time Colorado voted to the right of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania (by 0.02%). This is also the last time a tipping point state voted left of the popular vote


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado, General election, Polling
Incumbent Barack Obama started off with a wide lead in polls ranging from 1 to 13 points, which continued throughout the early summer of 2012. On August 6, Romney won his first poll, 50% to 45%. Throughout the rest of the summer, and September, with the exception of a few points, Obama won almost every poll but narrowly. In October, Romney gained momentum and the race throughout October was essentially tied, with neither candidate taking a significant lead. The last week before the election, Obama gained momentum and won each of the 4 pre-election polls. The average of the last 3 pre-election polls showed Obama leading Romney 49.7% to 46.3%. The final pre-election poll showed Obama leading Romney 52% to 46%, which was accurate compared to the results. Washington Post rated this race "Toss-Up."


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado, Democratic caucuses
In 2012, Barack Obama ran unopposed in the Colorado Democratic caucus.


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado, Republican caucuses
The Republican caucuses were held on "Republican Party Precinct Caucus Day" (February 7, 2012). Caucus locations opened on 9 PM, February 7, 2012, with 36 delegates at stake; 33 of which are tied to the caucuses while 3 are unpledged RNC delegates. The event occurred alongside the Minnesota Republican caucuses as well the Missouri Republican primary. The race was widely expected to be won by Mitt Romney even on the day of the caucus, but a strong surge by Rick Santorum across all three races that day carried him to a close victory.


2012 United States presidential election in Colorado, Republican caucuses, Conventions
There is no formal system of allocating delegates to candidates in any step of the election process. At each meeting the participants decides what the best course of action is. None of the 36 delegates are legally bound to vote for a candidate.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Connecticut voters chose seven electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Obama and Biden carried Connecticut with 58.1% of the popular vote to Romney's and Ryan's 40.7%, thus winning the state's seven electoral votes. Romney managed to flip the traditionally Republican Litchfield County,  which Obama managed to win in 2008. This is the most recent presidential election when the Democratic candidate won Windham County.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut
As of 2020, this was the most recent time that the Democratic presidential nominee won the towns of Berlin, Bozrah, Brooklyn, Chaplin, East Haven, Franklin, Griswold, Killingly, Lebanon, Lisbon, Naugatuck, North Branford, North Haven, North Stonington, Plainfield, Plainville, Putnam, Salem, Southington, Sprague, Stafford, Union, and Voluntown. This was also the most recent time that the Republican presidential nominee won the towns of Avon, Darien, East Granby, Easton, Granby, Greenwich, Newtown, New Canaan, Ridgefield, and Wilton.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Democratic primary
As Barack Obama was the only candidate to qualify, no Democratic primary was held.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Republican primary
The 2012 Connecticut Republican presidential primary took place on April 24, 2012. It was a closed primary, open only to Republican electors. 25 of the state's 28 delegates to the 2012 Republican National Convention were decided by the primary outcome, with the other 3 being superdelegates: the state party chairman and the state's two Republican National Committee representatives.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Republican primary
Mitt Romney won the primary by a wide margin, garnering two-thirds of the vote. Only 14.4% of active registered Republicans participated in the primary, the lowest turnout since the primary format was put in place in the state in 1980.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Republican primary, Process
After switching from proportional distribution of delegates to a winner-take-all system in 1996, the Connecticut Republican Party voted in September 2011 to award delegates by a hybrid winner-take-all and proportional distribution process beginning with the 2012 primary. Of the 25 regular delegates at stake in the primary, the party called for three delegates to be awarded to the winner of each of the state's five congressional districts on a winner-take-all basis for a total of 15 delegates. The remaining 10 would be distributed proportionally based on the statewide vote total among candidates receiving at least 20% support unless a candidate won a majority of the statewide vote, in which case the candidate would receive all 10 of these delegates.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Republican primary, Process
With Romney's primary day wins in all five congressional districts and a majority of the statewide vote, he was able to claim all 25 of the delegates at stake.


2012 United States presidential election in Connecticut, Republican primary, Results
Official source reports a turnout of 59,639, with the difference from 59,578 likely due to blank ballots.


2012 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 2012 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Delaware voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Delaware, Democratic primary
The Democratic primary in Delaware was cancelled as President Obama was the only candidate to file for the ballot, and received Delaware's entire delegation.


2012 United States presidential election in Delaware, Republican primary
The 2012 Delaware Republican presidential primary took place on April 24, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida
The 2012 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Florida voters chose 29 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida
By November 8, the vote counting had still not concluded. However, with much of the remaining vote still coming in was from heavily Democratic areas, Romney's Florida campaign acknowledged that he had lost the state to Obama. In order to certify the election in Florida, the ballots continued to be counted. Both Miami-Dade and Broward County completed their ballot counts on November 8, leaving Palm Beach and Duval counties as the only two that did not have a final count at the end of the day.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida
Florida required all counties to finish counting by noon Saturday but would not announce an official winner until the votes were certified on November 20. A recount is not done unless the difference is less than 0.5%. At 11 PM EST on November 9, the margin for Obama was 0.86%, with all but one county finished with their counting. On November 10, most major news sources projected Obama to be the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes. It was the last state to be called in the 2012 presidential election and also the closest.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida
Despite Tampa having been the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention, Obama ultimately carried Florida with 50.01% of the vote, to Romney's 49.13%, a margin of 0.88%. Having also won the state in 2008, Obama's 2012 victory made him the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to carry Florida for the Democrats in two consecutive presidential elections, and, thus, the first nominated candidate from the Democratic Party to win the state more than once since then. However, his margin of victory decreased from 2.81% in 2008, and his percentage of the vote decreased from 50.91%. He also lost Flagler and Volusia Counties, which he had won in 2008.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida
As of 2021, this is the last time Florida voted for the Democratic candidate. This is also the most recent election Jefferson County, St. Lucie County, and Monroe County have voted Democratic. Additionally, this is the last time that Florida would vote more Republican than Ohio.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican primary
The Republican primary was held on January 31, 2012. Fifty delegates were at stake, none of them RNC (or super) delegates; it is unclear whether these delegates will be allocated proportionally or winner-take-all. Originally awarded 99 delegates, the Republican National Committee removed half of Florida's delegates because the state committee moved its Republican primary before March 6; the Republican National Committee rules also set the delegate allocation to be proportional because the contest was held before April 1. It is a closed primary. There were 4,063,853 registered Republican voters as of January 3, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican primary
Florida is spread over two time zones, so voting wasn't completed until 7 pm CST/8pm EST.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican primary, Significance
In an effort to increase the political importance of their state's primary and receive added media exposure often directed to the early contests, Florida decided to plan its primary ahead of the early contests, a move that violated Republican Party rules and forced early states to move up their contests. Florida announced that their primary would occur on January 31 instead of the expected March; Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina were expected to have their primaries in February but were forced to push their primaries into January, thereby shortening the overall amount of time that each person could campaign. Florida made this move in 2008.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican primary, Significance
As a result of this calendar violation, Florida was stripped of half of its delegates, awarding only 50 delegates instead of the original 100 delegates.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican primary, Significance
Dean Cannon, the Republican speaker of the Florida House of Representatives: "My goal all along is for Florida to preserve her place as the fifth spot on the nominating calendar and not to move ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire."


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Republican primary, Controversy
According to a Gingrich campaign memo, he planned to challenge the results based on an interpretation of the Republican National Committee's rules that state that no contest can be winner-take-all prior to April 1, 2012. Gingrich would have requested that delegates be divided proportionally, corresponding to the percentage of votes each candidate received. It is not known what result a successful challenge might have had.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
Obama won the state and its 29 electoral votes on Election Day by a margin of 0.88%, down from the 2.82% margin in 2008. Florida was the closest race in the country at the presidential level. Throughout the night, Obama and Romney exchanged the lead, but the networks avoided calling the state for Obama until November 10 because long lines in the larger urban areas of the state meant that the vote count was delayed.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
According to exit polling, Obama won 95% of the African-American vote (13% of voters), 60% of Latino voters (up 3 points from 2008 and 17% of all voters), and 50% among Independents (who accounted for 33% of all voters). Mitt Romney won white voters by 24 percent. In addition, both Democratic and Republican strategists agreed that the President's ground game and early voting leads played a huge role in such a tight race. Despite laws that curbed early voting, more than 4 million Floridians cast a ballot before Election Day (almost 50% of all voters), and reports showed that Obama was leading by about 104,000 among those voters.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
The political geography of Florida is largely divided in thirds: South Florida (around the Miami metropolitan area) is heavily Democratic, North Florida (the Florida Panhandle, and the Jacksonville metropolitan area) is heavily Republican outside of Tallahassee and Gainesville, while Central Florida is a "swing" area of the state, where Democrats have made inroads in recent years.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
Mirroring the results of the 2008 presidential election in Florida, Obama dominated South Florida, winning Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties by comfortable margins, and actually increased his vote share in Miami-Dade and Broward counties from 2008. However, Romney's performance in Palm Beach County was notable considering he is the first Republican presidential candidate in over a decade to receive over 40% of the county's vote.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
Obama's gains in South Florida have been attributed to increasing his vote share among Cuban Americans, a large demographic in and around Miami who have reliably voted Republican, from 35% in 2008 to 48% against Romney's 52% in 2012. Combined with his large margins of victory among non-Cuban Hispanics in the state, Arian Campo-Flores at The Wall Street Journal noted that, "Together, both trends are accelerating a realignment of the state's Latino vote, from once solidly Republican to now reliably Democratic."


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
Although Obama lost large swaths of North Florida, he was able to keep the margins relatively close along the Eastern Seaboard. He lost to Romney in Duval County, anchored by Florida's largest city, Jacksonville, by only 3%, and Volusia County, home to Daytona Beach, by less than 2%. Where the state tipped into the Obama column was in Central Florida, the site of enormous growth in the last two decades. Obama was able to deliver big wins in the Orlando and Tampa Bay areas, where George W. Bush won in 2004. In the former, Obama carried Orange County (which includes Orlando) by 19 points and Osceola County near Orlando by a 24-point margin (Bush won it in 2004 52%-47%). In both counties, he was able to tap into a growing Puerto Rican community, which overwhelmingly broke his way.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
In the Tampa Bay region, Obama once again carried Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, by a 6-point margin, receiving over 13,000 more votes than he won in 2008. Obama also won Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, by a 52%-46.5% margin. Bush had narrowly carried the county by about 0.1% in 2004. In all, Obama won the three largest counties in Central Florida – Hillsborough, Orange, and Pinellas – while keeping his losing margins low in other populous counties – Polk, Seminole, and Manatee County.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, Analysis
Contrary to the 2010 elections where Democrats lost four seats from Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats picked up four seats from Florida this time around, as the state's congressional delegation increased by 2 members. Patrick Murphy defeated incumbent Republican Allen West in Florida's 18th congressional district and Joe Garcia defeated incumbent Republican David Rivera in Florida's 26th congressional district. Democrat Alan Grayson won a new seat in Florida's 9th congressional district while former West Palm Beach mayor, Lois Frankel, won the newly created seat in Florida's 22nd congressional district for the Democrats. At the state level, Democrats picked up two seats in the Florida State Senate and five seats in the Florida House of Representatives as well.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, General election results
The final vote count was unknown at noon Friday, November 9, 2012. The delay in the final count was caused by a combination of an extremely long ballot (with eleven state amendment questions) and a high number of absentee ballots. There were 240,000 absentee ballots in Miami-Dade County alone, with 54,000 of these cast on election day. Four urban counties, Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Duval, all experienced problems with counting their large number of absentee ballots. Each ballot had to be hand certified page by page, and then the pages had to be hand fed into the counting machine one by one. At noon Friday, Dade and Broward had finished counting, but Palm Beach and Duval were still counting.


2012 United States presidential election in Florida, General election results
General election results from the Florida Department of State Division of Elections as of 11 AM (Eastern time) November 19, 2012. This table shows the final official results.


2012 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 2012 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Georgia voters chose 16 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Georgia
Romney won Georgia by a 7.82% margin, an improvement from 2008 when John McCain won by 5.2%. Romney received 53.30% of the vote to Obama's 45.48%. Obama is the first (and so far only) Democrat to win two terms without winning Georgia either time. Early County flipped from supporting the Republican candidate to the Democratic candidate, while Chattahoochee flipped from the Democratic column to the Republican column.


2012 United States presidential election in Georgia
Cobb, Gwinnett, and Henry are massive counties in the Atlanta metropolitan area that were historically Republican bastions but have been instrumental in Democratic gains in the Peach State, with an increasing African American population and "suburban revolt" amongst white suburban voters. This is the last time a Democratic presidential nominee won the rural Black Belt counties of Baker, Dooly, Early, Peach, Quitman, and Twiggs; and also the most recent presidential election when Georgia backed the losing candidate nationwide. This was the first election since 1980 in which Georgia voted to the left of Missouri, and the last time that Georgia voted to the right of Ohio or Iowa as of 2020.


2012 United States presidential election in Georgia, Democratic primary
Incumbent president Barack Obama was unopposed in the Georgia primary, therefore winning all of the state's delegates.


2012 United States presidential election in Georgia, Republican primary
The 2012 Georgia Republican primary took place on March 6, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Georgia, Republican primary
Georgia has 76 delegates to the Republic National Convention. The three super delegates are awarded winner-take-all to the statewide winner. Thirty-one delegates are awarded proportionately among candidates winning at least 20% of the vote statewide. Another 42 delegates are allocated by Congressional district, 3 delegates for each district. If a candidate gets a majority in a district, he wins all 3 delegates. If no one get majority, the delegates are split 2 and 1 between the top two candidates respectively.


2012 United States presidential election in Georgia, General election, Results
Out of a total of 6,066,961 registered voters at the time of the presidential election, turnout for the general election was 3,908,369, or 64.42% of registered voters.


2012 United States presidential election in Guam
The 2012 United States presidential election in Guam was held on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participate.


2012 United States presidential election in Guam
Despite the fact that Guam lacks representation in the Electoral College, the island territory has conducted a straw poll for the office of President since 1980, when it picked then-incumbent President Jimmy Carter over Ronald Reagan. In every poll conducted from 1984 to 2012, the results accurately predicted the winner of the election on the mainland.


2012 United States presidential election in Guam
Incumbent President Barack Obama won the preference vote handily, receiving over 70% of the vote.


2012 United States presidential election in Guam, Primary elections, Republican caucuses
Mitt Romney won the entire Guam delegation in the March 10th caucus.


2012 United States presidential election in Guam, Primary elections, Democratic caucuses
The Democratic Party caucus took place on May 5. Barack Obama ran unopposed in most primaries across the nation, including Guam. He received 100% of the caucus vote against no opponents.


2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii
The 2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Hawaii voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. The Hawaiian-born president handily won the state's 4 electoral votes by a wide 42.71% margin of victory. This is the most recent time a Democrat would win more than 70% of the vote in any state in a presidential race.


2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii, Republican caucuses
The 2012 Hawaii Republican caucuses took place on March 13, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Hawaii, Republican caucuses
Certified results doesn't include 858 outstanding votes (write-ins and provisional ballots).


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 2012 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Idaho voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho
Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Romney and Ryan carried Idaho with 64.09% of the popular vote to Obama's and Biden's 32.40%, thus winning the state's four electoral votes. Romney's victory in Idaho made it his fourth strongest state in the 2012 election after Utah, Wyoming and Oklahoma. He improved on McCain's performance in 2008, expanding his margin from 25.3% to 31.69% and flipping Teton County which had previously voted for Obama.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Democratic caucuses
President Obama ran unopposed in the caucuses. The District cast all 31 of its delegate votes at the 2012 Democratic National Convention for Obama.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses
The Republican caucuses took place on Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012. An advisory primary with no binding effect on delegates, scheduled to be held on Tuesday May 15, 2012, was cancelled by the Idaho Republican Party. Five candidates were on the ballot. In order of filing they are Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Buddy Roemer. Although Roemer had withdrawn from the Republican race before the Idaho caucus, he still appeared on the ballot.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses
Idaho has 32 delegates to the Republican national convention, of which 3 are RNC and 29 are AL. The 3 RNC delegates pledged to go with the results of the Boise Straw Poll. The delegates will be determined by the caucuses results, based on a two-step approach. First, the delegates are primarily awarded winner-take-all by county after a series of votes in which candidates are successively removed from the ballot.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses
Then, if a candidate receives half or more of the county delegates, he will receive all the 32 delegates; if not, the delegates will be split proportionately according to the number of county delegates. Mitt Romney won 61% of the vote, thanks to a large majority of support (80-90% in most counties) in majority Mormon southeastern Idaho, rendering it a winner-take-all contest. Santorum and Paul split the Panhandle, winning five counties each, but came away empty in the delegate count.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses, Straw polls
Despite a complete lack of formal polling in the state, there were a total of five straw polls conducted in Idaho, three of which were online. Ron Paul won three of these, while Mitt Romney won two.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses, Straw polls, January 2–4 online poll
This was the first ever Idaho straw poll. It was conducted entirely online by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won with over 70% of the vote.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses, Straw polls, January 6 Boise poll
This poll used paper ballots and was conducted in Boise. Ron Paul won this poll. Rick Perry's campaign, although still active in the race at this time, did not participate.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses, Straw polls, February 2–4 online poll
This online straw poll was also produced by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Mitt Romney won the poll by a small margin.


2012 United States presidential election in Idaho, Republican caucuses, Straw polls, March 1–3 online poll
This poll was also produced by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won by a double-digit margin.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 2012 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Illinois voters chose 20 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. The Obama/Biden ticket won Illinois with 57.60% of the popular vote to Romney/Ryan's 40.73%, thus winning the state's twenty electoral votes by a margin of 16.87%.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois
Obama's victory continued a Democratic winning streak in the state — with the Democratic candidate having carried Illinois through the six consecutive elections. However, despite Obama's win in 2008 and popularity in the state due to being its former U.S. Senator, his performance significantly worsened, with his margin of victory decreasing from 25.14% to 16.87% and losing 23 counties to Romney that he had won four years prior. Obama further became the first Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to win the White House without carrying Madison County, in the Metro East region.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for congress and those for state offices.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Background
Illinois had voted Democratic in the previous five presidential elections. The last Republican ticket to win Illinois in a presidential election was that of George H. W. Bush and Dan Quayle in 1988.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Background
Illinois was the home state of the incumbent president, Barack Obama, who was seeking reelection.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
For the state-run primaries (Democratic and Republican), turnout was 21.72%, with 1,586,171 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 69.70%, with 5,242,014 votes cast.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Democratic primary
The 2012 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on March 20, 2012 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 2012 presidential election. Incumbent president Barack Obama won the primary. Obama was running for reelection without a major opponent.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Democratic primary
Obama won all 189 of the state's bound delegates (the state also had 26 superdelegates).


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Republican primary
The 2012 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on March 20, 2012 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 2012 presidential election.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Green primary
The 2012 Illinois Green Party Convention was held on February 24, and saw a binding presidential preference vote cast, awarding delegates, as part of the Green Party's state primaries ahead of the 2012 presidential election.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, Green primary
Unlike the primaries for the major parties, this primary was run by the Green Party of Illinois itself, rather than by the state.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
While Obama only won 23% of the counties in Illinois, most of the counties he won were heavily populated. His 17-point victory can be largely attributed to his performance in Cook County, which encompasses the Chicago Metropolitan Area. He also won the once Republican favored collar counties (DuPage, Will and Lake). He also performed well in the East St. Louis area.


2012 United States presidential election in Illinois, General election
Owing to Obama's strength as a hometown candidate, and due to the nationwide rural strength of successor Donald Trump during both his 2016 and 2020 runs, Obama remains the last Democrat as of 2020 to win Alexander County, Carroll County, Fulton County, Henderson County, Henry County, Jo Daviess County, Knox County, Mercer County, Putnam County, Warren County, and Whiteside County.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 2012 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Indiana voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. Romney and Ryan carried Indiana with 54.1% of the popular vote to Obama's and Biden's 43.9%, thus winning the state's 11 electoral votes.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana was one of just two states (along with North Carolina) which had been won by Obama in 2008 but which flipped to the Republicans in 2012. Although the state normally leans Republican, in 2008 Obama had been the first Democrat to win Indiana since 1964, albeit by a narrow 1.03% margin. However, unlike North Carolina, Indiana was not seriously contested again by the Obama campaign in 2012, and consequently Romney was able to carry it by a relatively comfortable 10.20%. Obama also lost six counties he had won in 2008.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana
Obama won in Vigo County, home to Terre Haute, and at the time, a noted bellwether; before 2020, it had voted for the winner of every presidential election all but twice since 1892. After 2012, demographic change and the rightward turn of exurban areas accelerated by the Trump era have made Vigo County uncompetitive to the present day.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana
As of 2020, this is the last time that Indiana has voted to the left of Texas or South Carolina.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana
This was the first election since 1948 that Indiana did not vote the same way as Virginia.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, Campaign
Incumbent Obama didn't visit Indiana, although First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton stumped in the state. Meanwhile, the Romney campaign sensed victory in the state, and he visited Indiana several times.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, Democratic primary
No major Democratic candidate challenged President Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, General election, Polling
Republican Nominee Mitt Romney won every pre-election poll conducted in the state by at least 5%, and often by double digits. The average of the final 3 polls had Romney leading Obama 51% to 43%.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, General election, Results
Following Romney's win in Indiana, The Indianapolis Star said that "Voters painted Indiana bright red on Tuesday- with a splash or so of blue" and that "voters also proved that while this state is conservative, it doesn't like to stray too far from the middle".


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, General election, Results
The following people were delegate electors for Romney-Ryan in the Indiana Republican Party:


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, General election, By county
Obama won nine counties compared to Romney's 83. Mitt Romney won by winning in most rural areas of the state. Romney also did well in the Indianapolis suburbs, Allen County home of Fort Wayne, and Vanderburgh County home of Evansville. As expected, Obama did better in urban, densely populated areas. Obama trounced Romney in Marion County home of Indianapolis as well as Lake County home of Gary and East Chicago.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, General election, By county
Obama also, for the most part did well in counties that contained major colleges such as Indiana University, Bloomington in Monroe County; Notre Dame University, South Bend in St. Joseph County; Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in Marion County; and Valparaiso University in Porter County. Vigo County, home of Terre Haute, stayed true to its name as a bellwether, as it had selected the winner of every presidential election since 1888 with the exception of 1908 and 1952. Vigo County narrowly went for Obama, and Obama ended up being re-elected.


2012 United States presidential election in Indiana, General election, By county
Obama lost six counties that he won in 2008. As of 2020, this election is the most recent time that Delaware, LaPorte, Perry, Porter and Vigo counties went for a Democratic presidential candidate. (Donald Trump, who carried all of the aforementioned counties in both of his presidential runs, ended Vigo's bellwether reputation in 2020.)


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 2012 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Iowa voters chose six electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa
Obama won Iowa with 51.99% of the vote to Romney's 46.18%, a Democratic victory margin of 5.81% - a markedly closer result than in 2008, when the Democrats won Iowa with a margin of 9.54%. Romney picked up wins in 16 counties that Obama had won in 2008, most of which were in the western half of the state, while only one county (Woodbury) flipped in the opposite direction. The state would end up voting Republican in 2016, and again in 2020.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa
This was the last election (as of 2020) that a Democratic candidate won Iowa. In turn, this is the last election where a Democrat won one-third of the counties in Iowa, and the last election a Democrat won the following counties: Allamakee, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan, Cedar, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clarke, Clayton, Clinton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fayette, Floyd, Howard, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jones, Lee, Louisa, Marshall, Mitchell, Muscatine, Poweshiek, Tama, Union, Wapello, Webster, Winneshiek, Woodbury, and Worth. This is also the last presidential election in which Iowa voted to the left of Ohio, Texas, Colorado, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona or Virginia.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Democratic caucuses
On January 3, 2012, the Iowa Democratic Party held statewide caucuses to select delegates to the county conventions. Incumbent Barack Obama ran unopposed. However, caucus goers also had the option of voting "uncommitted" rather than supporting Obama, and some Occupy movement and anti-war activists urged Democrats to vote "uncommitted" in protest of the Obama administration. Of the 8,152 county convention delegates that were elected by the caucuses, 8,065 (99%) were for Obama and 87 (1%) were uncommitted. In the floor vote taken at the Democratic National Convention, 62 Iowa state delegates voted for Obama. The other 3 of the state's 65 allocated votes were not announced.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
The 2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses took place on January 3, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
Using the media's generally accepted definition of the Iowa Republican caucus as the non-binding secret polling at caucus sites and using the incomplete data available, the 2012 Iowa Republican caucus was the closest race in Iowa caucus history with only a thirty-four vote margin (about 3⁄100th of a percent) separating former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who received 29,839 votes (24.56%), and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who received 29,805 votes (24.53%). Representative Ron Paul of Texas ran a close third, receiving 26,036 votes (21.43%).


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
Trailing were former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (16,163 votes, 13.30%), Texas governor Rick Perry (12,557 votes, 10.33%), and Representative Michele Bachmann (6,046 votes, 4.98%). Former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Jr., who skipped campaigning in Iowa to focus on the New Hampshire primary, received 739 votes (0.61%).


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
In total, 121,501 votes were recorded, setting a record for Iowa Republican caucus turnout; this record was broken in the 2016 election by more than 60,000 votes. However, this total was still far less than the all-time Iowa caucus record in the 2008 Democratic Iowa caucuses, in which 239,000 Democrats voted. The 121,501 votes represent 19.8 percent of active registered Republicans in the state and just 5.4 percent of all Iowans eligible to vote.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
However, the vote totals of eight precincts were never counted, so the vote totals are not really known.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
The secret polling results at Republican caucus sites were unrelated to the delegate selection process in 2012, although that has been changed for the 2016 election cycle.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
If the Iowa 2012 Republican caucuses were regarded as the start of the Republican delegate selection process for the 2012 United States presidential election, the real caucus process was the election of Republican delegates to the county conventions, who would eventually determine the delegates at the state convention in June 2012. This would, in turn, determine the Iowa delegates who would attend the Republican National Convention in August, 2012.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
This process rewarded campaign organizations that could not only get supporters to the caucus sites, but get supporters who would be willing to serve as delegates to county conventions and beyond. As a result, Ron Paul was ultimately able to win 22 of the 28 delegates to the national convention and Mitt Romney won the other six.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
The 2011–2012 pre-caucus poll results for Iowa had highly volatile results; Gallup polls showed the leading candidate in Iowa change seven times from May 2011 until the caucuses. The 2012 caucuses also set a new record for political expenditures, with $12 million being spent, two-thirds of it from "super PACs" which dominated the campaigns by running highly negative attack ads.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
In the August 13 Ames Straw Poll, a traditional straw poll held in Iowa Republican caucuses, Bachmann narrowly defeated Paul, with Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty trailing in third. Following his disappointing showing, Pawlenty dropped out of the race.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
Three candidates' debates were held in Iowa over the course the campaign: one on August 11 in Ames ahead of the straw poll; one on December 10, 2011, in Des Moines, and one on December 15 in Sioux City. Several other joint candidates' appearances took place during the caucus campaign outside Iowa.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses
The day after her unsatisfactory sixth-place performance in Iowa, Bachmann announced she was dropping out of the presidential race. Following his low fifth-place finish, Perry initially announced he was "reassessing" his campaign "to determine whether there is a path forward," but subsequently stated that he would continue on to New Hampshire and South Carolina.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses, Campaign, Early race
Considered a frontrunner for the 2012 nomination, former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, who was the winner of the Iowa Republican caucuses in 2008, was the leader in every statewide poll conducted in the state in 2010, and early 2011. Huckabee decided against a second bid, however, announcing the decision on his Fox News show Huckabee on May 14, 2011, stating "all the factors say go, but my heart says no, and that's the decision I've made." Following his decision, former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney became the frontrunner in polls conducted within the state in the weeks following, despite only appearing in Iowa a handful of times, and refusing to participate in the state's Ames Straw Poll in August 2011.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses, Campaign, Early race
This trend only lasted for a couple months, however, when support for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann began to increase, due in large part to the support she was able to garner through the Tea Party movement, of which she was a founding member of the Tea Party Caucus in the United States House of Representatives. Bachmann also strongly played up the fact that she was born in Waterloo, Iowa, where she also officially kicked off her candidacy, before eventually moving to Minnesota with her family when she became a teenager.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses, Campaign, Early race
In addition to Huckabee, several other potential candidates visited Iowa, including former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels, former Governor of New York George Pataki, Senator John Thune of South Dakota, Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie all decided against bids for president, despite receiving earlier speculation. Businessman Donald Trump, who also briefly flirted with the possibility of a bid for president, had sent several aides to Iowa, but ultimately decided against a bid.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses, Campaign, Early race
Unlike the 2008 presidential election, when many of the potential candidates had announced their bids by February 2007, the only major candidate to announce their intentions as to whether they would form an exploratory committee for President of the United States was businessman Herman Cain on January 12, 2011, after having toured Iowa, speaking to various Republican Party groups and leaders, as well as leaders in the Tea Party movement.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses, Campaign, Early race
The first official visit to Iowa by Cain, as a presidential candidate, was on March 7, 2011, during a conference hosted by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, along with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Governor Buddy Roemer, who also announced their own exploratory committees to run for president four days earlier.


2012 United States presidential election in Iowa, Republican caucuses, Campaign, Early race
Former Governor Tim Pawlenty, and former Senator Rick Santorum also participated in the event, though they had yet to announce their intentions to run for president. Following the conference, Pawlenty officially announced his bid on March 21, 2011, and made his first visit to Iowa as a presidential candidate on April 1, 2011, speaking with Republican Party leaders in Newton, Iowa. Santorum would also announce his own exploratory committee on April 13, 2011, and made his first visit as a candidate on April 25, 2011.