2012 United States presidential election in Ohio

The 2012 United States presidential election in Ohio 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. Ohio voters chose 18 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. This election continued Ohio's bellwether streak, as the state voted for the winner of the presidential election every time after it voted for Richard Nixon in 1960 until 2020.

2012 United States presidential election in Ohio

November 6, 2012
Turnout	70.54%[1]
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Massachusetts Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan Electoral vote 18 0 Popular vote 2,827,709 2,661,437 Percentage 50.67% 47.69%
County Results Obama   40-50%   50-60%   60-70% Romney   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

President Obama won the popular vote in Ohio with 50.67% of the vote over Mitt Romney in second place at 47.69%, a Democratic victory margin of 2.98%.[2] Obama's performance was a decline from 2008 when he won the state by a 4.57% margin over U.S. Senator John McCain, and he narrowly lost five counties that he won in 2008.[3] However, he narrowly improved his margins in Cuyahoga County and Franklin County, home to the second largest city, Cleveland, and the state's capital and largest city, Columbus, respectively, allowing him to carry the state.

As of 2020, this is the last time the Democratic presidential nominee won Ohio, as well as the last time Wood County, Ottawa County, Sandusky County, Erie County, Stark County, Portage County, Trumbull County, and Ashtabula County have voted Democratic.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary was held on March 6, 2012, the same day as the Republican primary. Incumbent President Barack Obama ran unopposed, and thus won all 151 of the state's delegates.

Republican primary

2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary

March 6, 2012

Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Delegate count 38 25 Popular vote 456,513 446,255 Percentage 37.9% 37.1%   Candidate Newt Gingrich Ron Paul Home state Georgia Texas Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 175,556 111,238 Percentage 14.6% 9.2%

Ohio results by county   Mitt Romney   Rick Santorum

The 2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary took place on March 6, 2012.[4]

Ohio has 66 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Three party officials (also known as "superdelegates") are not bound by the primary result. Forty-eight delegates are generally awarded winner-take-all by Congressional district. Another 15 delegates are awarded to the candidate who gets an outright majority statewide, or are allocated proportionately among candidates winning at least 20% of the vote if no candidate wins a majority.[5]

2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary[6]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Estimated national delegates
Mitt Romney	460,831	37.9%	38
Rick Santorum	448,580	37.1%	25
Newt Gingrich	177,183	14.6%	0
Ron Paul	113,256	9.3%	0
Rick Perry	7,539	0.6%	0
Jon Huntsman, Jr.	6,490	0.5%	0
Unprojected delegates			7
Totals	1,213,879	100.0%	66

Despite an early lead in the vote count and having won most counties, Santorum's lead was reduced and overcome by Romney as Hamilton and Cuyahoga County results came in.[7] Romney also won areas such as Akron, Youngstown, Dayton and Columbus. These and other highly populated counties would eventually go to Obama in November.

Key:	Withdrew prior to contest

Notes:

1. In the six congressional districts where Rick Santorum submitted only a partial slate of district delegates and district alternates by the late December 2011 deadline, he will be automatically awarded only the number of delegates he submitted, assuming he wins the particular district. The Ohio Republican Party said on March 2, 2012, that the remaining delegates in such districts will be "considered unbound" until a panel composed of three members of the Ohio GOP's central committee decides which campaign (if any) is permitted to appoint such delegates.[8]

2. In three congressional districts (OH-6, OH-9 and OH-13), Rick Santorum did not make the district-specific portion of the ballot.

3. In every district, each of the 6 candidates listed above appears on the "at-large" portion of the ballot. The results of the at-large ballot will determine the allocation of fifteen national convention delegates.

General election

Throughout the general election campaign Ohio was considered a key battleground state and Barack Obama and Mitt Romney campaigned extensively in the state.[9] Some experts believe that the popularity of the auto industry bailout put in place under President Obama helped him take the state.[9][10] In February 2013, nineteen cases of voter fraud were being investigated in Hamilton County;[11] in March 2013, three individuals were charged with voter fraud, with one individual alleged to have voted six times.[12] However, minus these questionable votes, even if they went to Obama,the outcome of the Ohio race is not affected as President Obama still wins Ohio by 166,272 votes.

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Ohio[13]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	2,827,709	50.67%	18
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	2,661,437	47.69%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	49,493	0.89%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	18,573	0.33%	0
	Independent	Richard Duncan	Ricky Johnson	12,502	0.22%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	8,152	0.15%	0
	Socialist	Stewart Alexander	Alex Mendoza	2,944	0.05%	0
	Others			37	0.00%	0
Totals				5,580,847	100.00%	18
Voter turnout (registered voters)						70.54%

Results by county

County[14]	Barack Hussein Obama Democratic		Willard Mitt Romney Republican		Gary Earl Johnson[15] Libertarian		Jill Ellen Stein[15] Green		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	3,976	36.14%	6,865	62.40%	98	0.89%	55	0.50%	8	0.07%	-2,889	-26.26%	11,002
Allen	17,913	37.27%	29,502	61.38%	464	0.97%	164	0.34%	22	0.05%	-11,589	-24.11%	48,065
Ashland	8,281	34.28%	15,519	64.25%	221	0.91%	115	0.48%	19	0.08%	-7,238	-29.96%	24,155
Ashtabula	23,803	55.62%	18,298	42.76%	433	1.01%	224	0.52%	36	0.08%	5,505	12.86%	42,794
Athens	18,307	66.59%	8,543	31.07%	434	1.58%	188	0.68%	21	0.08%	9,764	35.51%	27,493
Auglaize	5,831	25.02%	17,169	73.68%	209	0.90%	83	0.36%	9	0.04%	-11,338	-48.66%	23,301
Belmont	14,156	45.17%	16,758	53.47%	232	0.74%	178	0.57%	15	0.05%	-2,602	-8.30%	31,339
Brown	7,107	36.83%	11,916	61.75%	191	0.99%	68	0.35%	14	0.07%	-4,809	-24.92%	19,296
Butler	62,388	36.76%	105,176	61.98%	1,654	0.97%	413	0.24%	72	0.04%	-42,788	-25.21%	169,703
Carroll	5,543	42.26%	7,315	55.77%	173	1.32%	71	0.54%	15	0.11%	-1,772	-13.51%	13,117
Champaign	7,044	38.44%	11,045	60.28%	159	0.87%	66	0.36%	10	0.05%	-4,001	-21.83%	18,324
Clark	31,298	49.00%	31,816	49.82%	509	0.80%	215	0.34%	29	0.05%	-518	-0.81%	63,867
Clermont	30,458	31.72%	64,208	66.88%	1,069	1.11%	248	0.26%	27	0.03%	-33,750	-35.15%	96,010
Clinton	5,791	32.06%	12,009	66.48%	195	1.08%	56	0.31%	14	0.08%	-6,218	-34.42%	18,065
Columbiana	19,821	43.32%	25,251	55.19%	434	0.95%	216	0.47%	28	0.06%	-5,430	-11.87%	45,750
Coshocton	6,940	44.48%	8,390	53.78%	157	1.01%	96	0.62%	19	0.12%	-1,450	-9.29%	15,602
Crawford	7,507	37.91%	11,852	59.85%	186	0.67%	108	0.39%	13	0.05%	-4,345	-21.94%	19,847
Cuyahoga	447,232	69.54%	190,651	29.64%	3,448	0.54%	1,564	0.24%	231	0.04%	256,581	39.90%	643,126
Darke	6,826	27.03%	18,108	71.72%	212	0.84%	86	0.34%	17	0.07%	-11,282	-44.68%	25,249
Defiance	7,732	42.55%	10,176	56.00%	187	1.03%	64	0.35%	12	0.07%	-2,444	-13.45%	18,171
Delaware	37,292	37.84%	60,194	61.07%	851	0.86%	205	0.21%	20	0.02%	-22,902	-23.24%	98,562
Erie	21,793	55.57%	16,952	43.23%	300	0.77%	158	0.40%	12	0.03%	4,841	12.34%	39,215
Fairfield	29,890	41.64%	41,034	57.17%	624	0.87%	210	0.29%	23	0.03%	-11,144	-15.52%	71,781
Fayette	4,249	38.70%	6,620	60.30%	87	0.79%	18	0.16%	4	0.04%	-2,371	-21.60%	10,978
Franklin	346,336	60.79%	215,987	37.91%	5,535	0.97%	1,659	0.29%	201	0.04%	130,349	22.88%	569,718
Fulton	9,073	42.90%	11,738	55.50%	248	1.17%	82	0.39%	9	0.04%	-2,665	-12.60%	21,150
Gallia	4,557	36.56%	7,750	62.17%	79	0.63%	69	0.55%	11	0.09%	-3,193	-25.61%	12,466
Geauga	19,659	38.67%	30,589	60.18%	386	0.76%	182	0.36%	17	0.03%	-10,930	-21.50%	50,833
Greene	32,256	38.73%	49,819	59.81%	933	1.12%	245	0.29%	36	0.04%	-17,563	-21.09%	83,289
Guernsey	7,450	44.60%	8,993	53.84%	174	1.04%	70	0.42%	16	0.10%	-1,543	-9.24%	16,703
Hamilton	219,927	52.60%	193,326	46.23%	3,756	0.90%	1,012	0.24%	121	0.03%	26,601	6.36%	418,142
Hancock	12,564	35.37%	22,443	63.19%	352	0.99%	130	0.37%	30	0.08%	-9,879	-27.81%	35,519
Hardin	4,619	37.37%	7,489	60.59%	172	1.39%	68	0.55%	13	0.11%	-2,870	-23.22%	12,361
Harrison	2,950	41.62%	4,019	56.70%	62	0.87%	47	0.66%	10	0.14%	-1,069	-15.08%	7,088
Henry	5,658	39.98%	8,257	58.35%	169	1.19%	55	0.39%	13	0.09%	-2,599	-18.36%	14,152
Highland	6,049	34.14%	11,410	64.40%	176	0.99%	67	0.38%	15	0.08%	-5,361	-30.26%	17,717
Hocking	6,157	48.69%	6,285	49.70%	133	1.05%	57	0.45%	13	0.10%	-128	-1.01%	12,645
Holmes	2,608	22.76%	8,702	75.95%	93	0.81%	43	0.38%	12	0.10%	-6,094	-53.19%	11,458
Huron	11,006	44.97%	13,060	53.37%	260	1.06%	115	0.47%	31	0.13%	-2,054	-8.39%	24,472
Jackson	5,166	38.89%	7,904	59.50%	94	0.71%	101	0.76%	18	0.14%	-2,738	-20.61%	13,283
Jefferson	15,385	46.82%	17,034	51.83%	248	0.75%	157	0.48%	39	0.12%	-1,649	-5.02%	32,863
Knox	10,470	37.11%	17,266	61.20%	306	1.08%	114	0.40%	57	0.20%	-6,796	-24.09%	28,213
Lake	57,680	48.89%	58,744	49.79%	1,073	0.91%	436	0.37%	47	0.04%	-1,064	-0.90%	117,980
Lawrence	10,744	41.84%	14,651	57.06%	171	0.67%	93	0.36%	18	0.07%	-3,907	-15.22%	25,677
Licking	34,201	42.27%	45,503	56.24%	817	1.01%	311	0.38%	71	0.09%	-11,302	-13.97%	80,903
Logan	7,062	33.62%	13,633	64.91%	214	1.02%	80	0.38%	14	0.07%	-6,571	-31.29%	21,003
Lorain	81,464	57.06%	59,405	41.61%	1,275	0.89%	554	0.39%	72	0.05%	22,059	15.45%	142,770
Lucas	136,616	65.16%	69,940	33.36%	2,318	1.11%	652	0.31%	129	0.06%	66,676	31.80%	209,655
Madison	6,845	39.28%	10,342	59.35%	167	0.96%	67	0.38%	4	0.02%	-3,497	-20.07%	17,425
Mahoning	77,059	63.75%	42,641	35.28%	744	0.62%	370	0.31%	57	0.05%	34,418	28.47%	120,871
Marion	12,504	45.95%	14,265	52.42%	285	1.05%	132	0.49%	29	0.11%	-1,761	-6.47%	27,215
Medina	38,785	42.90%	50,418	55.77%	838	0.93%	326	0.36%	44	0.05%	-11,633	-12.87%	90,411
Meigs	4,027	39.81%	5,895	58.27%	111	1.10%	70	0.69%	13	0.13%	-1,868	-18.47%	10,116
Mercer	4,745	22.01%	16,561	76.83%	142	0.66%	83	0.39%	23	0.11%	-11,816	-54.82%	21,554
Miami	16,383	31.67%	34,606	66.90%	554	1.07%	144	0.28%	39	0.08%	-18,223	-35.23%	51,726
Monroe	3,035	45.37%	3,548	53.04%	48	0.72%	47	0.70%	11	0.16%	-513	-7.67%	6,689
Montgomery	137,139	51.66%	124,841	47.03%	2,548	0.96%	775	0.29%	172	0.06%	12,298	4.63%	265,475
Morgan	2,814	46.33%	3,179	52.34%	42	0.69%	27	0.44%	12	0.20%	-365	-6.01%	6,074
Morrow	5,933	36.91%	9,865	61.37%	174	1.08%	79	0.49%	24	0.15%	-3,932	-24.46%	16,075
Muskingum	17,001	46.15%	19,264	52.29%	352	0.96%	185	0.50%	36	0.10%	-2,263	-6.14%	36,838
Noble	2,131	36.72%	3,563	61.39%	62	1.07%	44	0.76%	4	0.07%	-1,432	-24.67%	5,804
Ottawa	11,503	51.43%	10,538	47.11%	220	0.98%	97	0.43%	10	0.04%	965	4.31%	22,368
Paulding	3,538	39.10%	5,354	59.17%	101	1.12%	48	0.53%	7	0.08%	-1,816	-20.07%	9,048
Perry	7,033	47.29%	7,627	51.28%	120	0.81%	76	0.51%	16	0.11%	-594	-3.99%	14,872
Pickaway	9,684	40.32%	14,037	58.44%	206	0.86%	74	0.31%	18	0.07%	-4,353	-18.12%	24,019
Pike	5,684	49.42%	5,685	49.43%	77	0.67%	44	0.38%	12	0.10%	-1	-0.01%	11,502
Portage	39,453	51.97%	35,242	46.42%	844	1.11%	316	0.42%	63	0.08%	4,211	5.55%	75,918
Preble	6,211	30.95%	13,535	67.44%	230	1.15%	82	0.41%	12	0.06%	-7,324	-36.49%	20,070
Putnam	4,318	23.62%	13,721	75.04%	160	0.88%	71	0.39%	14	0.08%	-9,403	-51.43%	18,284
Richland	22,687	39.55%	33,867	59.04%	503	0.88%	245	0.43%	60	0.10%	-11,180	-19.49%	57,362
Ross	14,569	48.69%	15,008	50.16%	223	0.75%	105	0.35%	18	0.06%	-439	-1.47%	29,923
Sandusky	14,541	50.47%	13,755	47.74%	324	1.12%	162	0.56%	29	0.10%	786	2.73%	28,811
Scioto	15,077	48.70%	15,492	50.04%	211	0.68%	154	0.50%	23	0.07%	-415	-1.34%	30,957
Seneca	11,353	45.28%	13,243	52.81%	316	1.26%	136	0.54%	27	0.11%	-1,890	-7.54%	25,075
Shelby	6,343	26.70%	17,142	72.16%	178	0.75%	75	0.32%	16	0.07%	-10,799	-45.46%	23,754
Stark	89,432	49.54%	88,581	49.07%	1,588	0.88%	732	0.41%	181	0.10%	851	0.47%	180,514
Summit	153,037	57.33%	111,000	41.58%	2,059	0.77%	764	0.29%	83	0.03%	42,037	15.75%	266,943
Trumbull	61,672	60.94%	38,279	37.82%	739	0.73%	432	0.43%	84	0.08%	23,393	23.11%	101,206
Tuscarawas	18,407	44.56%	22,242	53.84%	435	1.05%	175	0.42%	51	0.12%	-3,835	-9.28%	41,310
Union	8,805	34.58%	16,289	63.97%	280	1.10%	83	0.33%	6	0.02%	-7,484	-29.39%	25,463
Van Wert	4,029	29.20%	9,585	69.47%	95	0.69%	65	0.47%	23	0.17%	-5,556	-40.27%	13,797
Vinton	2,436	45.13%	2,856	52.91%	62	1.15%	41	0.76%	3	0.06%	-420	-7.78%	5,398
Warren	32,909	29.72%	76,561	69.15%	1,011	0.91%	220	0.20%	23	0.02%	-43,652	-39.42%	110,724
Washington	11,651	39.74%	17,284	58.95%	235	0.80%	134	0.46%	14	0.05%	-5,633	-19.21%	29,318
Wayne	19,808	39.04%	30,251	59.62%	451	0.89%	184	0.36%	45	0.09%	-10,443	-20.58%	50,739
Williams	7,266	41.37%	10,047	57.20%	148	0.84%	95	0.54%	9	0.05%	-2,781	-15.83%	17,565
Wood	32,802	51.44%	29,704	46.58%	940	1.47%	279	0.44%	44	0.07%	3,098	4.86%	63,769
Wyandot	4,137	39.42%	6,180	58.88%	99	0.94%	68	0.65%	12	0.11%	-2,043	-19.46%	10,496
Totals	2,827,627	50.86%	2,661,407	47.87%	49,493	0.89%	18,574	0.33%	3,074	0.06%	166,220	2.99%	5,560,175

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Belmont (largest city: Martins Ferry)
• Jefferson (largest city: Steubenville)
• Lake (largest city: Mentor)
• Monroe (largest city: Woodsfield)
• Tuscarawas (largest city: New Philadelphia)

Analysis

President Obama won Ohio over Governor Mitt Romney. Ohio was too close to call for a decent portion of the night. At 11:12 P.M. EST, MSNBC called Ohio for Obama. All major news networks soon followed suit. Obama's victory in Ohio was enough to push him over the 270 electoral vote line allowing him to win the election. At first the Romney campaign contested the call, but conceded at about 1:00 A.M. Obama's victory in Ohio can be attributed to several factors. Obama only won 17 out of Ohio's 88 counties. However, those 17 counties combined account for 56.56% of the state's total population.[16] Romney did do well in most rural areas of the state, particularly in western Ohio. Romney also won all but one county in the Appalachia region, becoming the first Republican since Richard Nixon’s 2,900-plus-county landslide in 1972 to carry Belmont, Jefferson and Monroe Counties, and losing only Athens County, home of Ohio University. He also managed to flip the swing counties of Lake and Tuscawaras. Romney also did well in the northern Columbus suburbs. For Romney, most of his wins came from smaller populated counties. Obama won by comfortable margins in Franklin, Hamilton, and Lucas counties, home to the cities of Columbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo, respectively. Obama's greatest support came from northeast Ohio, centered in Cuyahoga and Summit counties, home to the cities of Cleveland and Akron, respectively, the second and fourth largest cities in the state. The surrounding Cleveland–Akron–Canton metropolitan area and the Lake Erie shore went mostly to Obama, allowing him to carry the state as a whole. Obama won statewide by 2.98%.

See also

• United States presidential elections in Ohio
• Presidency of Barack Obama
• 2012 United States presidential debates
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Ohio Democratic Party
• Ohio Republican Party

References

1. [sos.state.oh.us/elections/election-results-and-data/2012-elections-results/ "2012 ELECTIONS RESULTS"] Check |url= value (help). Ohio Secretary of State. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
2. "Ohio Decides 2012 – Candidates for President". Ohio Secretary of State.
3. "Ohio - Election Results 2008 - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
4. "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
5. Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
6. "Secretary of State results". Archived from the original on 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
7. Exclusive Super Tuesday Numbers from Hamilton County, CNN, 2012-03-06, retrieved 2016-04-26
8. "Ohio delegates". ABC News. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
9. "Ohio Working Class May Offer Key to Obama's Re-election". The New York Times.
10. "How Obama Took The Battleground States". NPR.
11. Emily Maxwell (6 February 2013). "Poll worker accused of voter fraud in Hamilton County speaks out". WCPO. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
    "Possible Ohio voter fraud investigation heats up". San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
12. Eric Shawn (11 March 2013). "Cincinnati poll worker charged with voting half dozen times in November". Fox News. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
    "Nun, Poll Worker, Widower Charged With Voter Fraud". WKRC. Sinclair Broadcast Group. 11 March 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
13. "2012 Elections Results - Ohio Secretary of State". www.ohiosos.gov. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. "OH US President November 06, 2012". Our Campaigns.
16. Bureau, US Census. "County Population Totals: 2010-2019". The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2020-09-27.

External links

• The Green Papers: for Ohio
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order