Hamilton County has long been the most consistently Republican county in New York. Since Woodrow Wilson carried the county in 1916, the Republican candidate has lost only once, when Barry Goldwater in 1964 failed to win a single county in the state. The county was Goldwater's third strongest in the state however. In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, John McCain carried Hamilton County by a 26.9% margin over Barack Obama, with Obama winning statewide by a virtually equal margin over McCain; Republican nominee Mitt Romney won the county over President Obama in the 2012 election, too. Hamilton gave McCain the highest margin of victory in the state.