2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota

The 2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota 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. North Dakota 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 North Dakota

November 6, 2012

Nominee Mitt Romney Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Massachusetts Illinois Running mate Paul Ryan Joe Biden Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 188,320 124,966 Percentage 58.32% 38.70%

County Results Romney   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Obama   40-50%   50-60%   70-80%

President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Mitt Romney handily won the state with 58.32% of the vote to Barack Obama's 38.70%, a 19.62% margin of victory. He flipped seven counties that were carried by Obama in 2008, including Cass County, home to Fargo, the state's largest city.

As of 2020, this is the most recent time a Democrat won Benson, Ransom, Sargent, and Steele counties.

Predictions

• Real Clear Politics: Solid Romney [1]
• Huffington Post: Strong Romney[2]
• CNN: Safe Romney[3]
• New York Times: Strong Republican[4]
• Washington Post: Solid Romney[5]
• Karl Rove: Romney[6]
• Freedom's Light House: Romney[7]

Republican caucuses

2012 North Dakota Republican caucuses

March 6, 2012

Candidate Rick Santorum Ron Paul Home state Pennsylvania Texas Delegate count 6 2 Popular vote 4,510 3,186 Percentage 39.7% 28.1%   Candidate Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Home state Massachusetts Georgia Delegate count 20 0 Popular vote 2,691 962 Percentage 23.7% 8.5%

Election results by state legislative district   Rick Santorum   Ron Paul   Mitt Romney   Tie

The 2012 North Dakota Republican caucuses were held on March 6, 2012.[8] North Dakota has 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention;[9] despite Rick Santorum's nominal win in the preference poll conducted during the caucuses, the majority of the delegates elected by the state party convention later in March said they supported Romney.[10]

2012 North Dakota Republican caucuses[11]
Candidate		Votes	Percentage	Delegates [8]
	Rick Santorum	4,510	39.7%	6
	Ron Paul	3,186	28.1%	2
	Mitt Romney	2,691	23.7%	20
	Newt Gingrich	962	8.5%	0
Unprojected delegates				0
Totals		11,349	100.0%	28

Convention controversy

North Dakota Republican Party had its state convention from Friday March 30 to Sunday April 1 where twenty-five unbound National Convention delegates were elected. Rick Santorum had won the strawpoll at the Legislative Districts caucuses on Super Tuesday with a large margin to Ron Paul in second place and Mitt Romney in third place. The party leaderships recommended slate of delegates was to reflect this strawpoll result. According to Santorum and Paul supporters the slate did not live up to this requirement, but gave Romney a large majority of the delegates. Former NDGOP Chairman Gary Emineth called the vote undemocratic and a railroad job.

Electors

North Dakota has 3 Electoral votes in the Electoral College. The following names pledged to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

• Layton Freborg, State Senator
• Mary Lee
• David Nething, State Senator

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Barack Obama (D)	Mitt Romney (R)	Other	Undecided
Mason-Dixon	October 26–28	625	± 4.0%	40%	54%	3%	3%
Forum/Essman	October 12–15	500	± 4.3%	32%	57%	-	11%
Rasmussen Reports	October 17–18	600	± 4.0%	40%	54%	2%	4%
Mason-Dixon	October 3–5	625	± 4.0%	40%	54%	1%	5%
Rasmussen Reports	July 10–11, 2012	400	± - 5%	36%	51%	6%	7%
Mason-Dixon	June 4–12	625	± 4.0%	39%	52%	–	–

^‡Likely primary voters

General election

Results

2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota[12]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	188,320	58.32%	3
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	124,966	38.70%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	5,238	1.62%	0
	Other			1,860	0.58%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	1,362	0.42%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	1,186	0.37%	0
Totals				322,932	100.00%	3

By county

County	Romney	Votes	Obama	Votes	Others	Votes	Total
Adams	71.34%	916	25.55%	328	3.12%	40	1,284
Barnes	53.64%	2,953	43.40%	2,389	2.96%	163	5,505
Benson	40.27%	867	57.22%	1,232	2.51%	54	2,153
Billings	81.66%	472	15.40%	89	2.94%	17	578
Bottineau	64.17%	2,246	33.23%	1,163	2.60%	91	3,500
Bowman	73.73%	1,277	23.79%	412	2.48%	43	1,732
Burke	75.17%	769	22.48%	230	2.35%	24	1,023
Burleigh	64.45%	27,811	32.53%	14,036	3.02%	1,301	43,148
Cass	49.92%	36,792	46.99%	34,632	3.09%	2,280	73,704
Cavalier	57.76%	1,195	39.54%	818	2.71%	56	2,069
Dickey	63.48%	1,601	33.66%	849	2.85%	72	2,522
Divide	63.08%	733	33.13%	385	3.79%	44	1,162
Dunn	74.04%	1,506	24.98%	508	0.98%	20	2,034
Eddy	54.77%	631	42.01%	484	3.21%	37	1,152
Emmons	76.10%	1,430	20.38%	383	3.51%	66	1,879
Foster	61.30%	1,028	36.02%	604	2.68%	45	1,677
Golden	79.96%	742	17.46%	162	2.59%	24	928
Grand Forks	50.17%	15,044	46.71%	14,008	3.12%	937	29,989
Grant	72.54%	1,025	23.64%	334	3.82%	54	1,413
Griggs	57.42%	770	39.90%	535	2.68%	36	1,341
Hettinger	73.42%	1,000	22.98%	313	3.60%	49	1,362
Kidder	65.51%	870	29.59%	393	4.89%	65	1,328
LaMoure	62.80%	1,374	33.68%	737	3.52%	77	2,188
Logan	76.24%	799	21.09%	221	2.67%	28	1,048
McHenry	61.97%	1,651	34.68%	924	3.34%	89	2,664
McIntosh	67.63%	1,028	30.00%	456	2.37%	36	1,520
McKenzie	71.18%	2,450	26.90%	926	1.92%	66	3,442
McLean	63.70%	3,130	33.78%	1,660	2.52%	124	4,914
Mercer	70.72%	3,132	26.21%	1,161	3.07%	136	4,429
Morton	63.74%	8,669	32.85%	4,467	3.41%	464	13,600
Mountrail	56.76%	1,960	40.57%	1,401	2.66%	92	3,453
Nelson	51.49%	862	45.76%	766	2.75%	46	1,674
Oliver	68.41%	693	27.74%	281	3.85%	39	1,013
Pembina	58.43%	1,893	38.43%	1,245	3.15%	102	3,240
Pierce	67.34%	1,462	30.22%	656	2.44%	53	2,171
Ramsey	53.28%	2,659	43.32%	2,162	3.41%	170	4,991
Ransom	41.62%	1,008	55.37%	1,341	3.01%	73	2,422
Renville	66.56%	850	31.17%	398	2.27%	29	1,277
Richland	55.55%	4,229	42.01%	3,198	2.44%	186	7,613
Rolette	23.99%	1,092	73.66%	3,353	2.35%	107	4,552
Sargent	43.80%	879	53.56%	1,075	2.64%	53	2,007
Sheridan	78.10%	642	19.83%	163	2.07%	17	822
Sioux	19.53%	223	78.81%	900	1.66%	19	1,142
Slope	78.03%	341	18.99%	83	2.97%	13	437
Stark	73.25%	8,521	24.17%	2,812	2.58%	300	11,633
Steele	47.83%	495	49.76%	515	2.42%	25	1,035
Stutsman	59.48%	5,685	37.51%	3,585	3.01%	288	9,558
Towner	52.71%	623	43.65%	516	3.64%	43	1,182
Traill	50.85%	1,963	46.22%	1,784	2.93%	113	3,860
Walsh	55.23%	2,809	41.64%	2,118	3.13%	159	5,086
Ward	63.74%	16,176	33.14%	8,412	3.12%	792	25,380
Wells	69.53%	1,654	28.29%	673	2.19%	52	2,379
Williams	73.25%	7,087	23.65%	2,288	3.10%	300	9,675

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Cass (largest city: Fargo)
• Eddy (largest city: New Rockford)
• Grand Forks (largest city: Grand Forks)
• Mountrail (largest city: Stanley)
• Nelson (largest city: Lakota)
• Towner (largest city: Cando)
• Traill (largest city: Mayville)

See also

• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• North Dakota Republican Party

References

1. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html
2. "Huffington Post Election Dashboard". Huffington Post.
3. "CNN Electoral Map". CNN.
4. "The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory". The New York Times.
5. "2012 Presidential Election Results". The Washington Post.
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2012-08-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. http://freedomslighthouse.net/2012-presidential-election-electoral-vote-map/
8. "North Dakota Republican Delegation 2012". The Green Papers. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
9. Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
10. Santorum delegate plan hits wall in North Dakota. Associated Press. 2012-04-07. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
11. "Live Caucus Results". NDGOP Presidential Caucus Information. Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
12. "North Dakota Secretary of State". Retrieved 2012-11-11.

External links

• North Dakota GOP website
• North Dakota Republican State Committee Rules and Modes of Procedure
• The Green Papers: for North Dakota
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order