2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
The 2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island 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. Rhode Island voters chose four 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.
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| Turnout | 60.8%[1]  6.1 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Rhode Island |
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Also on the ballot were Libertarian nominee, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and his running mate, jurist Jim Gray. The left-wing Green Party nominated activist and physician Jill Stein and her running mate, anti-poverty advocate Cheri Honkala.
Rhode Island was won by Democratic nominee Obama by a 27.46% margin of victory. This was the seventh straight win for the Democratic Party in Rhode Island on the presidential level. It was also the seventh time in a row that the Democratic nominee for president won all 5 counties – a streak which would be broken when Donald Trump won Kent County in 2016[2] – and the sixth consecutive time that a Republican nominee failed to break 40% of the vote in the Ocean State. Rhode Island has been a safe Democratic state since 1988, and has only voted for a Republican nominee four times since 1928 (all of which in landslide elections). State politics are dominated by the Providence and Warwick metropolitan areas, and Providence County gave Obama his largest margin in the state at 34.92%. However, white working class voters in the inland and diverse, urban voters on the coast alike consistently vote Democratic, enough to provide the Democratic nominee with landslide margins in each election.[3]
Primary elections
Democratic primary
The 2012 Rhode Island Democratic primary was held April 24, 2012. Rhode Island awarded 40 delegates proportionally.
No candidate ran against incumbent President Barack Obama in Rhode Island's Democratic presidential preference primary. Obama received 6,759 votes, or 83.38% of the vote, with 1,133 uncommitted votes (13.98%) and 214 write-in votes (2.64%)
At the Rhode Island Democratic state convention held on June 21, 2012, 35 delegates were awarded to Barack Obama, with 5 delegates remaining unannounced.[4]
| Rhode Island 2012 Democratic presidential primary[4] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Awarded Delegates | ||
| Barack Obama | 6,759 | 83.38% | 35 | ||
| Uncommitted | 1,133 | 13.98% | |||
| Write-in | 214 | 2.64% | |||
| Unannounced | 5 | ||||
| Totals | 8,106 | 100.00% | 40 | ||
Republican primary
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 Rhode Island results by county
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The 2012 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary took place on April 24, 2012.[5] Former Massachusetts Governor and frontrunner Mitt Romney received 63.02% of the vote, followed by U.S. Representative from Texas Ron Paul with 23.85% and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich with 6.04%.[6] Former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum, who dropped out on April 10, received 5.66% of the vote.
| 2012 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary[6][7] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Delegates |
 Mitt Romney |
9,178 | 63.02% | 12 |
| Ron Paul | 3,473 | 23.85% | 4 |
| Newt Gingrich | 880 | 6.04% | 0 |
| Rick Santorum | 825 | 5.66% | 0 |
| Uncommitted | 131 | 0.90% | 3 |
| Buddy Roemer | 40 | 0.27% | 0 |
| Write-in | 37 | 0.25% | 0 |
| Unprojected delegates: | 0 | ||
| Total: | 14,564 | 100% | 19 |
General election
Results
| 2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island[8] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama | Joe Biden | 279,677 | 62.70% | 4 | |
| Republican | Mitt Romney | Paul Ryan | 157,204 | 35.24% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson | Jim Gray | 4,388 | 0.98% | 0 | |
| Green | Jill Stein | Cheri Honkala | 2,421 | 0.54% | 0 | |
| Others & write-in | 2,359 | 0.53% | 0 | |||
| Totals | 446,049 | 100.00% | 4 | |||
| Voter turnout | 60.79% | |||||
Results by county
| County | Barack Obama Democratic |
Mitt Romney Republican |
Various candidates Other parties |
Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Bristol | 14,974 | 60.68% | 9,231 | 37.41% | 471 | 1.91% | 5,743 | 23.27% | 24,676 |
| Kent | 45,564 | 57.73% | 31,567 | 40.00% | 1,792 | 2.27% | 13,997 | 17.73% | 78,923 |
| Newport | 23,463 | 59.47% | 15,202 | 38.53% | 787 | 2.00% | 8,261 | 20.94% | 39,452 |
| Providence | 159,520 | 66.53% | 75,785 | 31.61% | 4,481 | 1.86% | 83,735 | 34.92% | 239,786 |
| Washington | 35,888 | 57.07% | 25,366 | 40.34% | 1,625 | 2.59% | 10,522 | 16.73% | 62,879 |
| Totals | 279,677 | 62.70% | 157,204 | 35.24% | 9,168 | 2.06% | 122,473 | 27.46% | 446,049 |
Results by congressional district
Obama won both congressional districts.[9]
| District | Obama | Romney | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 66.21% | 32.18% | David Cicilline |
| 2nd | 59.84% | 38.29% | James Langevin |
See also
References
- This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in 2012 (446,049) by an estimate of the number of registered voters in Rhode Island in 2012 (732,860).
- For the number of votes cast, see "Official 2012 Presidential General Election Results". Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 26, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- For the estimated number of registered voters, see "STATEWIDE - VOTER REGISTRATION SUMMARY" (PDF). Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 14, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- "Rhode Island 2016 Presidential And State Election Results". NPR.org. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- "The Road to 270: Rhode Island". 270toWin.com. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- "Rhode Island Democrat". The Green Papers. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
- "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- "REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE". Retrieved April 25, 2012.
- State of Rhode Island official election results
- "State of Rhode Island Board of Elections". Retrieved November 14, 2012.
- "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
External links
- The Green Papers: for Rhode Island
- The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order
