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North Carolina · 2012 presidential election

North Carolina presidential election results 2012

Mitt Romney carried North Carolina by 2.04 points (92,004 votes), winning 15 electoral votes.

Electoral votes
15
Votes counted
4,505,372
NC result
R+2.0
Compared with the nation
5.9 pts more Republican
Swing since 2008
2.4 pts to R

Statewide result

CandidatePartyVotesShareBarElectoral votes
Mitt RomneyRepublican2,270,39550.40%15
Barack ObamaDemocratic2,178,39148.40%—
Total votes4,505,372

Sources: nc.pdf · 2012

County resultsMIT Election Lab

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MIT Election Data and Science Lab, County Presidential Election Returns 2000-2016 (compiled from official state election records)
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Alamance County: Mitt Romney +13.7Alleghany County: Mitt Romney +35.7Bladen County: Barack Obama +2.0Buncombe County: Barack Obama +12.5Caldwell County: Mitt Romney +35.5Dare County: Mitt Romney +15.9Davidson County: Mitt Romney +40.5Forsyth County: Barack Obama +7.2Guilford County: Barack Obama +16.4Hertford County: Barack Obama +44.3Jones County: Mitt Romney +9.3Martin County: Barack Obama +4.6Nash County: Barack Obama +1.0Pender County: Mitt Romney +20.3Randolph County: Mitt Romney +50.0Scotland County: Barack Obama +16.8Stanly County: Mitt Romney +40.0Vance County: Barack Obama +28.3Wayne County: Mitt Romney +8.4Yadkin County: Mitt Romney +51.3Wilkes County: Mitt Romney +42.4Wilson County: Barack Obama +7.5Yancey County: Mitt Romney +13.7Avery County: Mitt Romney +50.1Beaufort County: Mitt Romney +19.2Brunswick County: Mitt Romney +22.1Cabarrus County: Mitt Romney +20.0Catawba County: Mitt Romney +29.4Chatham County: Barack Obama +4.8Cherokee County: Mitt Romney +45.9Chowan County: Mitt Romney +4.5Columbus County: Mitt Romney +7.8Davie County: Mitt Romney +43.3Duplin County: Mitt Romney +11.6Edgecombe County: Barack Obama +36.2Franklin County: Mitt Romney +4.1Gaston County: Mitt Romney +25.4Graham County: Mitt Romney +41.3Granville County: Barack Obama +4.5Halifax County: Barack Obama +32.3Haywood County: Mitt Romney +13.6Hyde County: Mitt Romney +1.3Jackson County: Mitt Romney +1.0Lee County: Mitt Romney +9.7McDowell County: Mitt Romney +31.7Madison County: Mitt Romney +9.1Mitchell County: Mitt Romney +51.1New Hanover County: Mitt Romney +4.6Orange County: Barack Obama +42.2Pasquotank County: Barack Obama +14.6Perquimans County: Mitt Romney +16.0Pitt County: Barack Obama +7.1Richmond County: Barack Obama +2.9Rowan County: Mitt Romney +25.9Sampson County: Mitt Romney +10.9Stokes County: Mitt Romney +42.6Transylvania County: Mitt Romney +16.8Wake County: Barack Obama +11.4Washington County: Barack Obama +18.6Alexander County: Mitt Romney +44.4Anson County: Barack Obama +25.3Ashe County: Mitt Romney +32.7Caswell County: Mitt Romney +2.2Cleveland County: Mitt Romney +20.1Durham County: Barack Obama +52.8Gates County: Barack Obama +4.1Harnett County: Mitt Romney +19.0Iredell County: Mitt Romney +30.4Lincoln County: Mitt Romney +38.7Montgomery County: Mitt Romney +15.1Onslow County: Mitt Romney +26.7Person County: Mitt Romney +10.9Rockingham County: Mitt Romney +21.1Swain County: Mitt Romney +6.3Union County: Mitt Romney +30.2Currituck County: Mitt Romney +34.8Greene County: Mitt Romney +7.7Henderson County: Mitt Romney +27.4Bertie County: Barack Obama +32.7Burke County: Mitt Romney +23.4Camden County: Mitt Romney +34.0Carteret County: Mitt Romney +40.8Johnston County: Mitt Romney +27.6Lenoir County: Mitt Romney +0.1Macon County: Mitt Romney +30.4Mecklenburg County: Barack Obama +22.4Moore County: Mitt Romney +28.0Watauga County: Mitt Romney +3.1Surry County: Mitt Romney +36.7Tyrrell County: Mitt Romney +5.2Craven County: Mitt Romney +17.7Cumberland County: Barack Obama +19.7Northampton County: Barack Obama +34.9Pamlico County: Mitt Romney +20.8Polk County: Mitt Romney +21.4Robeson County: Barack Obama +17.4Clay County: Mitt Romney +42.4Warren County: Barack Obama +37.8Hoke County: Barack Obama +19.1Rutherford County: Mitt Romney +33.4
Each county coloured by its winner and shaded by margin. Tap one for its history.
County Barack ObamaMitt RomneyOthers TotalMargin
Alamance 28,87538,170731 67,776 13.7
Alexander 4,61112,253332 17,196 44.4
Alleghany 1,5833,39094 5,067 35.7
Anson 7,0194,16671 11,256 25.3
Ashe 4,1168,242252 12,610 32.7
Avery 1,8825,766111 7,759 50.1
Beaufort 9,43513,977208 23,620 19.2
Bertie 6,6953,38741 10,123 32.7
Bladen 8,0627,748147 15,957 2.0
Brunswick 22,03834,743581 57,362 22.1
Buncombe 70,62554,7012,370 127,696 12.5
Burke 13,70122,267576 36,544 23.4
Cabarrus 32,84949,5571,160 83,566 20.0
Caldwell 10,89823,229605 34,732 35.5
Camden 1,5083,10987 4,704 34.0
Carteret 10,30124,775441 35,517 40.8
Caswell 5,3485,59497 11,039 2.2
Catawba 24,06944,538994 69,601 29.4
Chatham 18,36116,665408 35,434 4.8
Cherokee 3,3789,278211 12,867 45.9
Chowan 3,5563,89158 7,505 4.5
Clay 1,5793,97390 5,642 42.4
Cleveland 17,06225,793485 43,340 20.1
Columbus 11,05012,941252 24,243 7.8
Craven 18,76326,928479 46,170 17.7
Cumberland 75,79250,6661,183 127,641 19.7
Currituck 3,5627,496246 11,304 34.8
Dare 7,39310,248333 17,974 15.9
Davidson 20,62449,383928 70,935 40.5
Davie 5,73514,687248 20,670 43.3
Duplin 9,03311,416143 20,592 11.6
Durham 111,22433,7691,742 146,735 52.8
Edgecombe 18,3108,546116 26,972 36.2
Forsyth 92,32379,7681,978 174,069 7.2
Franklin 13,43614,603350 28,389 4.1
Gaston 33,17156,1381,174 90,483 25.4
Gates 2,7862,56446 5,396 4.1
Graham 1,1192,75078 3,947 41.3
Granville 13,59812,405272 26,275 4.5
Greene 3,7784,41147 8,236 7.7
Guilford 146,365104,7892,698 253,852 16.4
Halifax 17,1768,763140 26,079 32.3
Harnett 17,33125,565519 43,415 19.0
Haywood 11,83315,633508 27,974 13.6
Henderson 18,64232,994756 52,392 27.4
Hertford 7,8433,00768 10,918 44.3
Hoke 10,0766,819194 17,089 19.1
Hyde 1,1631,19327 2,383 1.3
Iredell 26,07649,299990 76,365 30.4
Jackson 8,0958,254352 16,701 1.0
Johnston 27,29048,427974 76,691 27.6
Jones 2,3522,83741 5,230 9.3
Lee 10,80113,158280 24,239 9.7
Lenoir 13,94813,980158 28,086 0.1
Lincoln 11,02425,267484 36,775 38.7
Macon 5,71210,835314 16,861 30.4
Madison 4,4845,404225 10,113 9.1
Martin 6,5835,99574 12,652 4.6
McDowell 6,03111,775293 18,099 31.7
Mecklenburg 272,262171,6684,970 448,900 22.4
Mitchell 1,8385,806121 7,765 51.1
Montgomery 4,7066,404121 11,231 15.1
Moore 16,50529,495415 46,415 28.0
Nash 24,31323,842337 48,492 1.0
New Hanover 48,66853,3851,575 103,628 4.6
Northampton 7,2323,48341 10,756 34.9
Onslow 18,49032,243702 51,435 26.7
Orange 53,90121,5391,317 76,757 42.2
Pamlico 2,6474,05164 6,762 20.8
Pasquotank 10,2827,633192 18,107 14.6
Pender 9,63214,617278 24,527 20.3
Perquimans 2,7593,82271 6,652 16.0
Person 8,41810,496192 19,106 10.9
Pitt 41,84336,214799 78,856 7.1
Polk 4,0136,236140 10,389 21.4
Randolph 14,77345,160782 60,715 50.0
Richmond 9,9049,332181 19,417 2.9
Robeson 24,98817,510448 42,946 17.4
Rockingham 16,35125,227442 42,020 21.1
Rowan 22,65038,775887 62,312 25.9
Rutherford 9,37418,954374 28,702 33.4
Sampson 11,56614,422186 26,174 10.9
Scotland 8,2155,831110 14,156 16.8
Stanly 8,43119,904382 28,717 40.0
Stokes 6,01815,237364 21,619 42.6
Surry 9,11219,923435 29,470 36.7
Swain 2,6182,976134 5,728 6.3
Transylvania 6,8269,634303 16,763 16.8
Tyrrell 83793016 1,783 5.2
Union 32,47361,1071,148 94,728 30.2
Vance 13,3237,429102 20,854 28.3
Wake 267,262211,5967,569 486,427 11.4
Warren 6,9783,14044 10,162 37.8
Washington 3,8332,62244 6,499 18.6
Watauga 13,00213,861811 27,674 3.1
Wayne 23,31427,641397 51,352 8.4
Wilkes 8,14820,515482 29,145 42.4
Wilson 20,87517,954280 39,109 7.5
Yadkin 3,95712,578278 16,813 51.3
Yancey 3,9815,278192 9,451 13.7

Candidate votes as printed in the document. “Total” is the document’s total where it prints one, otherwise the sum of the candidate columns. Margin is the leading ticket’s lead in points over the second.

Notes on how this document was read
  • Secondary source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, County Presidential Election Returns 2000-2016 (compiled from official state election records).

Method: Machine-readable dataset; county sums checked against the state totals in The American Presidency Project summary (within 0.5% for both main tickets).

Certified state documentCertified

North Carolina State Board of Elections, November 6, 2012 General Election, Clarity results page (website last updated 12/12/2012; printed 12/14/2012), President and Vice President of the United States statewide; page image without usable text layer
Open the original document · page 1

Every ticket on the ballot, as printed in the certified document (the statewide table above groups minor candidates as “Others” when the source does).

All 4 tickets as printed in the document
Ticket (as printed)CodeVotesShare
Romney/Ryan (REP)REP2,270,39550.52%
Obama/Biden (DEM)DEM2,178,39148.48%
Johnson/Gray (LIB)LIB44,5150.99%
Virgil Goode (Write-in)Write-in5340.01%
Write-in / scattering11,537
Total as printed4,505,372

Questions and answers

Who won North Carolina in 2012?

Mitt Romney won North Carolina by 2.04 percentage points (92,004 votes).

How many electoral votes did North Carolina have in 2012?

North Carolina cast 15 electoral votes in 2012.

How many people voted for president in North Carolina in 2012?

4,505,372 votes were counted for president.

How many counties did each candidate win in North Carolina in 2012?

Mitt Romney 70, Barack Obama 30 (out of 100 counties with results).

How did North Carolina change from 2008 to 2012?

The margin moved 2.4 points toward the Republican ticket, from Democratic by 0.3 points to Republican by 2.0 points.

Official results As published by The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara) and the state documents it links. How we use this data