2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

The 2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts 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. Massachusetts 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.

2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

November 6, 2012

Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Massachusetts Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan Electoral vote 11 0 Popular vote 1,921,290 1,188,314 Percentage 60.65% 37.51%

County Results Obama   40-50%   50–60%   60-70%   70-80%

Municipality Results

President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Obama and Biden won Massachusetts with 60.65% of the popular vote to Romney's and Ryan's 37.51%, thus winning the state's 11 electoral votes by a 23.14% margin of victory, despite Massachusetts being Romney's home state, as whose governor he had served from 2003 to 2007.[1] This was the first time a presidential candidate lost his home state since Al Gore lost Tennessee in the 2000 election. Romney also became the first Republican candidate to lose his home state since Richard Nixon lost his home state of New York to Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960, and has kept up its intense level of the sizable Democratic margins since 1996, even fending off one of the state's own former governors, Mitt Romney. Massachusetts has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984. It was also the sixth straight election (beginning in 1992) in which the Democratic presidential candidate swept every one of the state's 14 counties. Consequently, Romney became the first candidate since Theodore Roosevelt one hundred years earlier to claim an electoral vote yet win no county in his home state.[lower-alpha 1] The 2012 election also marks the third consecutive instance where a major party's presidential candidate who considered Massachusetts as his home state lost (this also happened in 1988 and 2004 when Michael Dukakis and John Kerry respectively lost their bids). Romney also became the first major party nominee to lose his or her home state by twenty or more points in 80 years (this feat would be repeated in 2016 when Donald Trump lost New York state to Hillary Clinton).

Nevertheless, Romney's 37.51% vote share still stands (as of the 2020 election) as the highest Republican vote share in the Bay State since 1988. Romney's 4.2% defeat in Plymouth County represents, as of 2020, the closest a Republican has come to carrying any of Massachusetts' counties since 1988. This was also the first and, as of 2020, only election since 1984 in which the former Republican stronghold of Barnstable County was not decided by double digits.

The 2012 presidential election marks the most recent cycle that Romney would stand for public office as a resident of Massachusetts. He would be on the ballot again in 2018, but as a candidate for United States Senator from Utah.

This election, Massachusetts weighed in as 0.02 percent more Democratic than California and 5.04 percent more Republican than New York. As of the 2020 election, this is the last election Massachusetts voted more Republican than New York. Despite Romney's expected wide loss, this is to date the best performance the Republican presidential candidate has had in Massachusetts since George H.W. Bush was the most recent Republican nominee to both garner over 40% of the state's popular vote, while winning at least one of the states counties in 1988 too. Romney outperformed George W. Bush's vote share in 2004 by 0.73%, while Obama underperformed John Kerry's vote share by 1.29%.

Primaries

Democratic

2012 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary

March 6, 2012

Candidate Barack Obama Party Democratic Home state Illinois Delegate count 110 Popular vote 127,909 Percentage 86.50%

Massachusetts results by county   Barack Obama

Incumbent president Barack Obama won the Democratic Primary with 81% of the vote.[2][3] He wasn't challenged in the primary and the rest of the vote went to write-in candidates. Through the primary and district caucuses, he won all of the state's 110 pledged delegates, which were pledged to vote for him at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina (the state also had 26 superdelegates).[3]

Massachusetts Democratic primary, 2012[2][3]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Barack Obama	127,909	86.50%	110
No preference	16,075	10.87%	0
Write-ins	3,889	2.63%	0
Totals	147,873	100.00%	110

Republican

2012 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary

March 6, 2012

Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Ron Paul Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Texas Delegate count 38 0 0 Popular vote 266,313 44,564 35,219 Percentage 71.89% 12.03% 9.51%

Massachusetts results by county   Mitt Romney

The 2012 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary was held on March 6, 2012.[4][5] Among the 41 delegates to the Republican National Convention, 38 are awarded proportionately among candidates getting at least 15% of the vote statewide, and another three super delegates are unbound.[6] Expectedly, Romney won Massachusetts by a landslide. Romney won the plurality in every town with the exception of 10 towns (Santorum winning 7, Paul winning 2, and a tie in 1), earning the majority in all but 53 towns.[7]

Massachusetts Republican primary, 2012[8]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Projected delegate count
			AP	CNN [9]	FOX [10]
Mitt Romney	266,313	71.89%	-	38	38
Rick Santorum	44,564	12.03%	-	0	0
Ron Paul	35,219	9.51%	-	0	0
Newt Gingrich	16,991	4.59%	-	0	0
Jon Huntsman (withdrawn)	2,268	0.61%	-	0	0
Rick Perry (withdrawn)	991	0.27%	-	0	0
Michele Bachmann (withdrawn)	865	0.23%	-	0	0
No preference	1,793	0.48%	-	0	0
Blanks	818	0.22%	-	0	0
Others	613	0.17%	-	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			41	3	3
Total:	370,425	100.00%	41	41	41

Green-Rainbow

2012 Massachusetts Green-Rainbow presidential primary

March 6, 2012

Candidate Jill Stein Kent Mesplay Harley Mikkelson Party Green Green Green Home state Massachusetts California Delegate count 8 1 1 Popular vote 1,018 89 84 Percentage 67.06% 5.86% 5.53%

The 2012 Massachusetts Green-Rainbow presidential primary was held on March 6, 2012.

Massachusetts Green-Rainbow primary, 2012[11]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Jill Stein	1,018	67.06%	8
No preference	232	15.28%	2
Kent Mesplay	89	5.86%	1
Harley Mikkelson	84	5.53%	1
Write-ins	95	6.26%	0
Totals	1,518	100.00%	11

General election

Candidate Ballot Access:

• Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican
• Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic
• Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green
• Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[12]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	1,921,290	60.65%	11
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,188,314	37.51%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	30,920	0.98%	0
	Green-Rainbow	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	20,691	0.65%	0
	Others	Others		6,552	0.21%	0
Totals				3,167,767	100.00%	11

By county

County	Obama%	Obama#	Romney%	Romney#	Others%	Others#	Total
Barnstable	52.99%	70,822	45.23%	60,446	1.39%	1,847	133,115
Berkshire	75.34%	48,843	21.98%	14,252	2.16%	1,391	64,486
Bristol	58.74%	142,962	38.52%	93,752	1.99%	4,795	241,509
Dukes	72.34%	7,978	25.32%	2,792	1.81%	198	10,968
Essex	57.13%	210,302	40.88%	150,480	1.52%	5,575	366,357
Franklin	71.19%	27,072	24.57%	9,344	3.55%	1,342	37,758
Hampden	61.23%	123,619	36.35%	73,392	1.69%	3,388	200,399
Hampshire	69.77%	57,359	26.13%	21,480	3.41%	2,782	81,621
Middlesex	62.29%	471,804	35.30%	267,321	1.99%	15,045	754,170
Nantucket	62.33%	3,830	35.59%	2,187	1.68%	103	6,120
Norfolk	56.58%	202,714	41.42%	148,393	1.52%	5,416	356,523
Plymouth	51.16%	131,845	46.98%	121,086	1.40%	3,600	256,531
Suffolk	77.03%	223,896	20.64%	59,999	1.80%	5,203	289,098
Worcester	53.45%	198,244	44.06%	163,390	2.03%	7,478	369,112

See also

• United States presidential elections in Massachusetts
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Massachusetts Republican Party

Notes

1. James B. Weaver, the Populist candidate in 1892, is the only other case since before the Civil War: he won five states but no county in his home state of Iowa.

References

1. "2012 Presidential Election – Massachusetts". Politico. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
2. "PD43+ » 2012 President Democratic Primary". PD43+. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
3. "Massachusetts Democratic Delegation 2012". www.thegreenpapers.com. The Green Papers. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
4. "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
5. "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
6. Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
7. Boston Globe (March 4, 2012). "2012 Massachusetts Republican Presidential Primary results". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
8. http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleres/repprim12.pdf
9. Massachusetts – CNN
10. "Massachusetts – Fox News". Archived from the original on 2012-04-07. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
11. "PD43+ » 2012 President Green-Rainbow Primary". PD43+. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
12. "Massachusetts Secretary of State". Retrieved 2012-11-30.

External links

• The Green Papers: for Massachusetts
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order
• Official Results for 2012 Election in Massachusetts