2012 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

The 2012 United States presidential election in Washington 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. Washington voters chose 12 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 Washington (state)

November 6, 2012
Turnout81.25% (of registered voters) 3.36%[1]
 
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Massachusetts
Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan
Electoral vote 12 0
Popular vote 1,755,396 1,290,670
Percentage 56.16% 41.29%

County Results

President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

President Obama easily won the state of Washington, taking 56.16% of the vote to Mitt Romney's 41.29%, a 14.87% margin of victory.[2] In terms of raw vote total, Obama received 1,755,396 votes to Romney's 1,290,670 votes, a 464,726 vote margin. Obama received the largest number of votes of any candidate up to that point, a record which would be broken by his then-running mate Joe Biden in 2020, when Biden broke Obama's record by 614,216 votes.[3] Third parties collectively made up 79,450 votes, or 2.54%. Obama led in every single poll conducted, often by double digits. Washington has not voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan carried it in his 1984 landslide, and today is considered part of the Blue Wall, a bloc of 242 electoral votes that have safely voted for the Democratic nominee since 1992. Despite being a Republican-leaning swing state in the early- to mid-20th century, the rise of cultural conservatism and resistance to social liberalism in the Republican Party pushed voters in Washington, as well as many other Blue Wall states, away from the Republicans.[4]

As with all other Pacific states, Washington politics are dominated by its progressive metropolitan areas. Washington itself is one of the most progressive states in the country, most notably on women's issues: it was one of the first states to loosen abortion restrictions[4] and is the United States' 7th most secular state.[5] Economically, while Washington was historically a socially liberal and economically conservative state, it has become more dominated by leftism in the past few years at the presidential, congressional, and local level.[4][6] Thus, an Obama win was near guaranteed. He dominated the Seattle–Tacoma metropolitan area, winning 69.07% of the vote (a 40.56% margin) in King County, the largest in the state and home to Seattle. King County alone casts 29% of the state's ballots, and the Seattle metropolitan area (as defined by the United States Census Bureau) comprised 69.66% of the state's population in 2012.[7][8] This area of the Evergreen State also has the highest minority composition with a 15% Asian, 9% Hispanic, and 7% African American population, and is dominated by diverse, well-educated voters. The Seattle LGBT community is one of the largest in the country.[4] Thurston County, the 6th largest county in the state and home to the state capital of Olympia, gave Obama 58.27% of the vote, a 19.48% margin. The Democratic ticket also won by great margins in the counties of (in decreasing order of margin) Snohomish (Everett), Whatcom (Bellingham), Kitsap (Bremerton), and Pierce (Tacoma). Clark County, home to Vancouver, in the southwest of the state, was won by the president with a 431-vote margin. Overall, Western Washington voted 7.7% more Democratic than the state overall.[6]

Meanwhile, Romney's best performance was in the east of the state, which is mostly rural and sparse and has an economy dominated by agriculture. Washington's geographic divide resembles that of California and Oregon: voters east of the Cascade Mountains are the most conservative in the Evergreen State, and Eastern Washington voted 28.5% more Republican than the state as a whole.[6] While comprising most of the counties in the state, this area casts only one-fifth of the ballots. Though many of these counties the Republicans won with over 60% of the vote, these victories were not able to offset Obama's landslide margins in the Seattle–Tacoma metro. Romney's biggest prize was Spokane County, which gave him over 115,000 votes and a 5.81% margin of victory. He also won Yakima County. However, he was able to flip four counties that Obama won in 2008: Klickitat, Skamania, Wahkhiakum, and Whitman.

This election continued Clallam County's bellwether streak, marking the 9th election since 1980 that it voted for the winner of the nationwide election. Clallam's streak would eventually become the longest of any county in 2020.[9]

Washington weighed in as 11.01% more Democratic than the national average in 2012.

As of 2020, this is the last presidential election in which the Republican nominee won Whitman County and the Democratic nominee won Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Mason, and Pacific Counties.

Democratic caucuses

As incumbent President Barack Obama ran without opposition nationwide, the non-binding primary was cancelled by the Washington State Legislature. Precinct caucuses took place on April 15, legislative district caucuses on April 28, county conventions on April 29, and congressional district caucuses on May 30. The Washington state convection took place from June 1 to June 3, and according to The Green Papers, Obama ran unopposed in the caucuses, receiving 114 delegates in the Democratic National Convention floor vote. The other 6 delegates' votes were unannounced.[10]

Republican caucuses

Results of the non-binding strawpoll by county. Orange indicates a county won by Romney, gold by Paul, dark green by Santorum.

The Republican caucuses were held on March 3, 2012.[11] The additional preferential primary, as held since 1992, was canceled this year for budgetary reasons, as was the one in 2004.[12] Caucus participants, however, did not allocate national delegates to the candidates – they only elected delegates to the county conventions and took part in a nonbinding straw poll. Only the state convention from May 31 to June 2, 2012 legally pledged delegates to the national convention to specific candidates.

Caucus results

With 3,677,919 registered voters as of February 29,[13] the turnout was 1.4%.[14] Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won the caucuses with a plurality, receiving 19,111 votes or 37.65%. Ron Paul, representative from Texas's 14th district, narrowly won second place with 24.81% of the vote against former Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum's 23.81%. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich placed fourth, with 5,221 votes, or 10.28%. The other 3.44% of votes were uncommitted or write-ins.

Washington state Republican caucuses nonbinding strawpoll
Candidate Votes Percentage
Mitt Romney 19,111 37.65%
Ron Paul 12,594 24.81%
Rick Santorum 12,089 23.81%
Newt Gingrich 5,221 10.28%
Uncommitted 1,656 3.26%
Total Write-Ins 93 0.18%
Totals 50,764 100.00%

Convention results

At the Republican National Convention, Romney received all 3 delegates from the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th districts. Ron Paul received 2 delegates from the 3rd district and all 3 from the 7th. The 3rd district also allocated 1 delegate to Rick Santorum. All 10 state delegates were allocated to Romney, as were the 3 superdelegates.

Convention Results[15][16][17]
Candidate 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th State Party
leaders
Total
Mitt Romney 3 3 0 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 10 3 37
Ron Paul 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 5
Rick Santorum 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Total 30 10 3 43

General election

Polling

President Obama consistently led in polling up until election day: at one point, a SurveyUSA poll conducted from September 28 to 30 had him leading by 20 points. In only two polls did Obama lead by single digits: a Public Policy Polling poll conducted October 15 to 16 had him leading by 5 points, and another conducted November 1 to 3 had him up 7. An average of all polls conducted before election day had Obama leading by 13.6 percentage points.

Poll source Date administered Democrat % Republican % Lead margin Sample Size Margin of error
YouGov October 31 – November 3, 2012 Barack Obama 54% Mitt Romney 40% 14 837 LV ±--%
Public Policy Polling November 1 – 3, 2012 Barack Obama 53% Mitt Romney 46% 7 932 LV ±3.2%
Survey USA October 28 – 31, 2012 Barack Obama 54% Mitt Romney 40% 14 555 LV ±4.2%
University of Washington October 18 – 31, 2012 Barack Obama 57% Mitt Romney 36% 21 632 LV ±3.9%
Strategies 360 October 17 – 20, 2012 Barack Obama 52% Mitt Romney 39% 13 500 LV ±4.4%
Public Policy Polling October 15 – 16, 2012 Barack Obama 50% Mitt Romney 45% 5 574 LV ±--%
The Washington Poll October 1–16, 2012 Barack Obama 52% Mitt Romney 41% 11 782 LV ±3.5%
Rasmussen Reports October 14, 2012 Barack Obama 55% Mitt Romney 42% 13 500 LV ±4.5%
SurveyUSA October 12 – 14, 2012 Barack Obama 54% Mitt Romney 40% 14 543 LV ±4.3%
SurveyUSA September 28 – 30, 2012 Barack Obama 56% Mitt Romney 36% 20 540 LV ±4.3%
Rasmussen Reports September 26, 2012 Barack Obama 52% Mitt Romney 41% 11 500 LV ±4.5%
Gravis Marketing September 21–22, 2012 Barack Obama 56% Mitt Romney 39% 17 625 RV ±4.6%
Elway September 9–12, 2012 Barack Obama 53% Mitt Romney 36% 17 405 RV ±5.0%
Public Policy Polling September 7–9, 2012 Barack Obama 53% Mitt Romney 42% 11 563 ±n/a%
KING5NEWS/SurveyUSA September 7–9, 2012 Barack Obama 54% Mitt Romney 38% 16 700 ±4.4%

Candidate ballot access

[2]

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Washington (state)[2]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,755,396 56.16% 12
Republican Mitt Romney Paul Ryan 1,290,670 41.29% 0
Libertarian Gary Johnson Jim Gray 42,202 1.35% 0
Green Jill Stein Cheri Honkala 20,928 0.67% 0
Constitution Virgil Goode Jim Clymer 8,851 0.28% 0
Justice Rocky Anderson Luis J. Rodriguez 4,946 0.16% 0
Socialism and Liberation Peta Lindsay Yari Osorio 1,318 0.04% 0
Socialist Workers James Harris Alyson Kennedy 1,205 0.04% 0
Totals 3,125,516 100.00% 12

Results by county

[2]
County Barack Hussein Obama
Democratic
Willard Mitt Romney
Republican
Gary Earl Johnson
Libertarian
Jill Ellen Stein
Green
Virgil Hamlin Good, Jr.
Constitution
Ross Carl Anderson
Justice
Peta Lindsay
Socialism and Liberation
James Harris
Socialist Workers
Margin Total
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Adams 1,540 32.13% 3,171 66.16% 40 0.83% 20 0.42% 15 0.31% 6 0.13% 1 0.02% 0 0.00% 1,631 34.03% 4,793
Asotin 4,003 40.43% 5,654 57.11% 151 1.53% 34 0.34% 31 0.31% 21 0.21% 3 0.03% 4 0.04% 1,651 16.68% 9,901
Benton 28,145 35.38% 49,461 62.17% 1,148 1.44% 360 0.45% 303 0.38% 105 0.13% 19 0.02% 18 0.02% 21,316 26.79% 79,559
Chelan 13,112 40.66% 18,402 57.06% 426 1.32% 154 0.48% 91 0.28% 36 0.11% 9 0.03% 20 0.06% 5,290 16.40% 32,250
Clallam 18,580 48.81% 18,437 48.43% 522 1.37% 293 0.77% 135 0.35% 52 0.14% 26 0.07% 21 0.06% 143 0.38% 38,066
Clark 93,382 48.94% 92,951 48.72% 2,523 1.32% 984 0.52% 591 0.31% 255 0.13% 58 0.03% 61 0.03% 431 0.22% 190,805
Columbia 645 28.55% 1,568 69.41% 26 1.15% 7 0.31% 6 0.27% 5 0.22% 0 0.00% 2 0.09% 923 40.86% 2,259
Cowlitz 22,726 50.93% 20,746 46.49% 553 1.24% 261 0.58% 221 0.50% 72 0.16% 15 0.03% 26 0.06% 1,980 4.44% 44,620
Douglas 5,166 34.57% 9,425 63.08% 204 1.37% 53 0.35% 60 0.40% 20 0.13% 8 0.05% 6 0.04% 4,259 28.51% 14,942
Ferry 1,294 37.62% 1,995 57.99% 73 2.12% 30 0.87% 31 0.90% 13 0.38% 2 0.06% 2 0.06% 701 20.37% 3,440
Franklin 8,398 37.09% 13,748 60.72% 293 1.29% 74 0.33% 83 0.37% 33 0.15% 10 0.04% 4 0.02% 5,350 23.63% 22,643
Garfield 336 26.29% 913 71.44% 16 1.25% 4 0.31% 2 0.16% 3 0.23% 1 0.08% 3 0.23% 577 45.15% 1,278
Grant 8,950 32.48% 17,852 64.78% 427 1.55% 125 0.45% 135 0.49% 33 0.12% 19 0.07% 17 0.06% 8,902 32.30% 27,558
Grays Harbor 15,960 55.64% 11,914 41.54% 425 1.48% 159 0.55% 150 0.52% 47 0.16% 12 0.04% 17 0.06% 4,046 14.10% 28,684
Island 21,478 51.02% 19,605 46.57% 531 1.26% 265 0.63% 116 0.28% 71 0.17% 22 0.05% 11 0.03% 1,873 4.45% 42,099
Jefferson 12,739 64.24% 6,405 32.30% 248 1.25% 301 1.52% 54 0.27% 67 0.34% 8 0.04% 7 0.04% 6,334 31.94% 19,829
King 668,004 69.07% 275,700 28.51% 12,411 1.28% 7,264 0.75% 1,369 0.14% 1,628 0.17% 411 0.04% 367 0.04% 392,304 40.56% 967,154
Kitsap 67,277 54.53% 52,846 42.84% 1,774 1.44% 799 0.65% 414 0.34% 177 0.14% 37 0.03% 43 0.03% 14,431 11.69% 123,367
Kittitas 7,949 43.75% 9,782 53.83% 239 1.32% 110 0.61% 39 0.21% 37 0.20% 5 0.03% 10 0.06% 1,833 10.08% 18,171
Klickitat 4,598 44.75% 5,316 51.74% 147 1.43% 121 1.18% 53 0.52% 27 0.26% 5 0.05% 7 0.07% 718 6.99% 10,274
Lewis 12,664 37.20% 20,452 60.08% 508 1.49% 172 0.51% 149 0.44% 56 0.16% 18 0.05% 25 0.07% 7,788 22.88% 34,044
Lincoln 1,673 28.49% 4,063 69.19% 66 1.12% 36 0.61% 24 0.41% 6 0.10% 1 0.02% 3 0.05% 2,390 40.70% 5,872
Mason 14,764 52.29% 12,761 45.20% 357 1.26% 175 0.62% 104 0.37% 48 0.17% 17 0.06% 9 0.03% 2,003 7.09% 28,235
Okanogan 7,108 42.19% 9,221 54.74% 237 1.41% 142 0.84% 86 0.51% 34 0.20% 10 0.06% 8 0.05% 2,113 12.55% 16,846
Pacific 5,711 54.27% 4,499 42.75% 152 1.44% 70 0.67% 49 0.47% 26 0.25% 6 0.06% 11 0.10% 1,212 11.52% 10,524
Pend Oreille 2,508 37.61% 3,952 59.27% 103 1.54% 42 0.63% 40 0.60% 14 0.21% 4 0.06% 5 0.07% 1,444 21.66% 6,668
Pierce 186,430 54.37% 148,467 43.30% 4,584 1.34% 1,777 0.52% 1,010 0.29% 394 0.11% 135 0.04% 113 0.03% 37,963 11.07% 342,910
San Juan 7,125 67.26% 3,111 29.37% 140 1.32% 175 1.65% 8 0.08% 26 0.25% 7 0.07% 2 0.02% 4,014 37.89% 10,594
Skagit 28,688 51.91% 25,071 45.36% 785 1.42% 431 0.78% 165 0.30% 92 0.17% 21 0.04% 16 0.03% 3,617 6.55% 55,269
Skamania 2,628 48.08% 2,687 49.16% 84 1.54% 40 0.73% 13 0.24% 9 0.16% 4 0.07% 1 0.02% 59 1.08% 5,466
Snohomish 188,516 56.16% 133,016 40.33% 4,788 1.45% 1,753 0.53% 1,002 0.30% 490 0.15% 129 0.04% 123 0.04% 55,500 15.83% 329,817
Spokane 102,295 45.70% 115,285 51.51% 3,257 1.46% 1,361 0.61% 1,086 0.49% 344 0.15% 118 0.05% 84 0.04% 12,990 5.81% 223,830
Stevens 7,762 35.03% 13,691 61.78% 329 1.48% 130 0.59% 194 0.88% 31 0.14% 11 0.05% 13 0.06% 5,929 26.75% 22,161
Thurston 74,037 58.27% 49,287 38.79% 1,737 1.37% 1,333 1.05% 304 0.24% 262 0.21% 59 0.05% 44 0.03% 24,750 19.48% 127,063
Wahkiakum 1,094 47.69% 1,119 48.78% 34 1.48% 23 1.00% 11 0.48% 10 0.44% 1 0.04% 2 0.09% 25 1.09% 2,294
Walla Walla 9,768 38.90% 14,648 58.34% 398 1.59% 154 0.61% 71 0.28% 45 0.18% 12 0.05% 12 0.05% 4,880 19.44% 25,108
Whatcom 57,089 55.41% 42,703 41.45% 1,383 1.34% 1,248 1.21% 287 0.28% 219 0.21% 57 0.06% 43 0.04% 14,386 13.96% 103,029
Whitman 8,037 46.94% 8,507 49.69% 334 1.95% 118 0.69% 64 0.37% 37 0.22% 9 0.05% 15 0.09% 470 2.75% 17,121
Yakima 33,217 43.15% 42,239 54.88% 749 0.97% 330 0.43% 285 0.37% 95 0.12% 28 0.04% 30 0.04% 9,022 11.73% 76,973
Totals 1,755,396 56.16% 1,290,670 41.29% 42,202 1.35% 20,928 0.67% 8,851 0.28% 4,946 0.16% 1,318 0.04% 1,205 0.04% 464,726 14.87% 3,125,516
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Results by congressional district

President Obama won 7 of 10 congressional districts, including the 9th district, which simultaneously elected a Republican (Dave Reichert) to the House of Representatives.[18] Obama's best performance was in the 7th district, which encompasses most of Seattle and Burien, where he received 79.2% of the vote to Romney's 18.1%. Romney won the 3rd district, located in Southwestern Washington, by a 1.7% margin, as well as the 4th and 5th districts, both of which are located in the rural and conservative parts of Washington east of the Cascade Mountains.

District Barack Obama

Democratic

Mitt Romney

Republican

Other[lower-alpha 1] Representative
1st 54.1% 43.3% 2.6% Jay Inslee (111th Congress)
Suzan DelBene (112th Congress)
2nd 59.2% 38.0% 2.8% Rick Larsen
3rd 47.9% 49.6% 2.5% Jaime Herrera Beutler
4th 37.9% 59.7% 2.4% Doc Hastings
5th 43.7% 53.5% 2.8% Cathy McMorris Rodgers
6th 56.1% 41.2% 2.7% Norm Dicks (111th Congress)
Derek Kilmer (112th Congress)
7th 79.2% 18.1% 2.7% Jim McDermott
8th 49.7% 48.1% 2.2% Dave Reichert
9th 68.3% 29.6% 2.1% Adam Smith
10th 56.3% 41.1% 2.6% district created
Denny Heck

See also

Notes

  1. calculated by subtracting Obama and Romney's percentages from 100

References

  1. Secretary of State: Kim Wyman. "November 6, 2012 General Election Results". www.sos.wa.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  2. "November 06, 2012 General Election Results: President/Vice President". www.wa.gov. Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  3. "November 3, 2020 General Election Results - President/Vice President". www.wa.gov. Washington Secretary of State. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  4. Cohen, Micah (September 25, 2012). "Washington State, Women's Rights and Big Cities". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  5. Lipka, Michael; Wormald, Benjamin (February 29, 2016). "Most and least religious U.S. states". Pew Research Center. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  6. Savicki, Drew (June 1, 2020). "The Road to 270: Washington". 270toWin. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  7. "State Population Totals: 2010-2019". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  8. "County Population Totals: 2010-2019". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  9. Farley, Josh (November 7, 2020). "What does Clallam County know? Voters just chose a winner for the tenth straight election". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  10. "Washington Democratic Delegation 2012". The Green Papers. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  11. Grygiel, Chris (September 27, 2011). "Washington state GOP to hold presidential caucus March 3". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Hearst Corporation. ISSN 0745-970X. OCLC 3734418. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
  12. "GOP candidates vie for delegates in Washington, feet planted in Ohio". Fox News. March 3, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  13. "Elections & Voting". Washington Secretary of State - Elections Division. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  14. Washington Republican - The Green Papers
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2012-07-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Washington Republican Delegation 2012".
  17. https://twitter.com/FHQ/status/209025914649067520
  18. Nir, David (November 19, 2020). "Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for 2020, 2016, and 2012". Daily Kos. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
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