Tuesday, November 6, 2012
2012 presidential election results
Barack Obama (Democratic) and running mate Joseph Biden won with 332 electoral votes and 51.1% of the popular vote.
Tipping-point state: Colorado, D+5.4 (nation D+3.9). It delivered electoral vote number 270 for the winner. What is a tipping-point state?
| Candidate | Running mate | Party | Electoral votes | Popular vote | Share | States won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barack Obama Won | Joseph Biden | Democratic | 332 | 65,899,660 | 51.10% | 27 |
| Mitt Romney | Paul Ryan | Republican | 206 | 60,932,152 | 47.20% | 24 |
| Total popular votes counted | 129,067,662 | |||||
Electoral College map
Full-screen mapMargin:<55–1010–2020+points. Grey: no popular vote / no data.
Click on state name for access to source used for this data.
The difference between the sum of popular votes for Obama and Romney & the total state votes cast is the vote total for all other minor candidates.
Federal Election Commission used as an additional source to check vote totals: http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2012/2012presgeresults.pdf
Results by state
Download CSV| State | Barack Obama | Mitt Romney | Margin | EV | Total votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 38.4% | 60.5% 9 | 22.2 | 9 | 2,074,338 |
| Alaska | 40.8% | 54.8% 3 | 14.0 | 3 | 300,495 |
| Arizona | 44.6% | 53.7% 11 | 9.1 | 11 | 2,299,254 |
| Arkansas | 36.9% | 60.6% 6 | 23.7 | 6 | 1,069,468 |
| California | 60.2% 55 | 37.1% | 23.1 | 55 | 13,038,547 |
| Colorado | 51.5% 9 | 46.1% | 5.4 | 9 | 2,569,520 |
| Connecticut | 58.1% 7 | 40.7% | 17.3 | 7 | 1,558,960 |
| Delaware | 58.6% 3 | 40.0% | 18.6 | 3 | 413,921 |
| District of Columbia | 90.9% 3 | 7.3% | 83.6 | 3 | 293,764 |
| Florida | 50.0% 29 | 49.1% | 0.9 | 29 | 8,474,179 |
| Georgia | 45.5% | 53.3% 16 | 7.8 | 16 | 3,900,050 |
| Hawaii | 70.5% 4 | 27.8% | 42.7 | 4 | 434,697 |
| Idaho | 32.6% | 64.5% 4 | 31.9 | 4 | 652,274 |
| Illinois | 57.6% 20 | 40.7% | 16.9 | 20 | 5,242,014 |
| Indiana | 43.9% | 54.1% 11 | 10.2 | 11 | 2,624,534 |
| Iowa | 52.0% 6 | 46.2% | 5.8 | 6 | 1,582,180 |
| Kansas | 38.0% | 59.7% 6 | 21.7 | 6 | 1,159,971 |
| Kentucky | 37.8% | 60.5% 8 | 22.7 | 8 | 1,797,212 |
| Louisiana | 40.6% | 57.8% 8 | 17.2 | 8 | 1,994,065 |
| Maine | 56.3% 4 | 41.0% | 15.3 | 4 | 713,180 |
| Maryland | 62.0% 10 | 35.9% | 26.1 | 10 | 2,707,327 |
| Massachusetts | 60.7% 11 | 37.5% | 23.1 | 11 | 3,167,767 |
| Michigan | 54.2% 16 | 44.7% | 9.5 | 16 | 4,730,961 |
| Minnesota | 52.7% 10 | 45.0% | 7.7 | 10 | 2,936,561 |
| Mississippi | 43.8% | 55.3% 6 | 11.5 | 6 | 1,285,584 |
| Missouri | 44.4% | 53.8% 10 | 9.4 | 10 | 2,757,323 |
| Montana | 41.7% | 55.4% 3 | 13.7 | 3 | 484,048 |
| Nebraska | 38.0% | 59.8% 5 | 21.8 | 5 | 794,379 |
| Nevada | 52.4% 6 | 45.7% | 6.7 | 6 | 1,014,918 |
| New Hampshire | 52.0% 4 | 46.5% | 5.6 | 4 | 710,972 |
| New Jersey | 58.3% 14 | 40.6% | 17.7 | 14 | 3,638,499 |
| New Mexico | 53.0% 5 | 42.8% | 10.2 | 5 | 783,758 |
| New York | 63.4% 29 | 35.2% | 28.1 | 29 | 7,061,925 |
| North Carolina | 48.4% | 50.4% 15 | 2.0 | 15 | 4,505,372 |
| North Dakota | 38.7% | 58.3% 3 | 19.6 | 3 | 322,932 |
| Ohio | 50.7% 18 | 47.7% | 3.0 | 18 | 5,580,822 |
| Oklahoma | 33.2% | 66.8% 7 | 33.5 | 7 | 1,334,872 |
| Oregon | 54.2% 7 | 42.1% | 12.1 | 7 | 1,789,270 |
| Pennsylvania | 52.1% 20 | 46.7% | 5.4 | 20 | 5,753,670 |
| Rhode Island | 62.7% 4 | 35.2% | 27.5 | 4 | 446,049 |
| South Carolina | 44.1% | 54.6% 9 | 10.5 | 9 | 1,964,118 |
| South Dakota | 39.9% | 57.9% 3 | 18.0 | 3 | 363,815 |
| Tennessee | 39.1% | 59.5% 11 | 20.4 | 11 | 2,458,577 |
| Texas | 41.4% | 57.2% 38 | 15.8 | 38 | 7,993,851 |
| Utah | 24.7% | 72.8% 6 | 48.0 | 6 | 1,017,440 |
| Vermont | 66.6% 3 | 31.0% | 35.6 | 3 | 299,290 |
| Virginia | 51.2% 13 | 47.3% | 3.9 | 13 | 3,854,490 |
| Washington | 56.2% 12 | 41.3% | 14.9 | 12 | 3,125,516 |
| West Virginia | 35.5% | 62.3% 5 | 26.8 | 5 | 670,438 |
| Wisconsin | 52.9% 10 | 46.0% | 6.8 | 10 | 3,071,434 |
| Wyoming | 27.8% | 68.6% 3 | 40.8 | 3 | 249,061 |
Shares are of the votes counted for president; bold numbers are electoral votes won. Margin is the winner’s lead over the runner-up in points.
Closest states in 2012
- Florida Barack Obama by 74,309 votes (0.88 pts)
- North Carolina Mitt Romney by 92,004 votes (2.04 pts)
- Ohio Barack Obama by 166,214 votes (2.98 pts)
- Virginia Barack Obama by 149,298 votes (3.87 pts)
- Colorado Barack Obama by 137,858 votes (5.37 pts)
- Pennsylvania Barack Obama by 309,840 votes (5.39 pts)
- New Hampshire Barack Obama by 39,643 votes (5.58 pts)
- Iowa Barack Obama by 91,927 votes (5.81 pts)
Flipped since 2008
- Indiana: Democratic → Republican (11 EV)
- North Carolina: Democratic → Republican (15 EV)
County and town results from each state’s certified document are on the state pages for 2012.
Source: 2012
Questions and answers
Who won the 2012 presidential election?
Barack Obama (Democratic) won the 2012 election with 332 electoral votes, with Joseph Biden as vice president.
How many electoral votes did each candidate win in 2012?
Barack Obama 332; Mitt Romney 206 (out of 538).
Who won the popular vote in 2012?
Barack Obama received the most popular votes: 65,899,660 (51.1%) of 129,067,662 counted.
What was the closest state in 2012?
Florida, which Barack Obama won by 74,309 votes (0.88 points).
Which states flipped in 2012?
Compared with 2008, 2 states changed party: Indiana (to Republican) and North Carolina (to Republican).
What was the tipping-point state in 2012?
Colorado. Ranking the states by the winner's margin, it delivered electoral vote number 270; it voted Democratic by 5.4 points, against Democratic by 3.9 points nationally.
Official results As published by The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara) and the state documents it links. How we use this data