2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

← 2008 November 6, 2012 2016 →

Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Massachusetts Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan Electoral vote 11 0 Popular vote 1,921,290 1,188,314 Percentage 60.65% 37.51%

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

Municipality Results

President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The 2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts 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. Massachusetts voters chose 11 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.

Obama and Biden won Massachusetts with 60.65% of the popular vote to Romney's and Ryan's 37.51%, thus winning the state's 11 electoral votes by a 23.14% margin of victory, despite Massachusetts being Romney's home state, as whose governor he had served from 2003 to 2007.^[1] This was the first time a presidential candidate lost his home state since Al Gore lost Tennessee in the 2000 election. Romney also became the first Republican candidate to lose his home state since Richard Nixon lost his home state of New York to Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960, and has maintained extremely large Democratic margins since 1996. Even fending off one of the state's own former governors, Mitt Romney. Massachusetts has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984. The 2012 election was also the sixth consecutive one (since 1992) in which the Democratic presidential candidate swept every one of the state's 14 counties. Romney became the first candidate since Theodore Roosevelt, one hundred years earlier, to win an electoral vote, but no counties in his home state.^[a] Romney also became the first major party nominee to lose his or her home state by twenty or more percentage points in 80 years.

Nevertheless, Romney's 37.51% vote share still stands (as of the 2020 election) as the highest Republican vote share in the Bay State since 1988. Romney's 4.2% defeat in Plymouth County represents, as of 2020, the closest a Republican has come to carrying any of Massachusetts' counties since 1988. This was also the first and, as of 2020, only election since 1984 in which the former Republican stronghold of Barnstable County was not decided by double digits.

The 2012 presidential election marks the most recent cycle that Romney would stand for public office as a resident of Massachusetts. He would be on the ballot again in 2018, but as a candidate for United States Senator from Utah.

This election, Massachusetts weighed in as 0.02 percent more Democratic than California and 5.04 percent more Republican than New York. As of the 2020 election, this is the last election Massachusetts voted more Republican than New York. Despite Romney's expected wide loss, this is to date the best performance of a Republican presidential candidate in Massachusetts since George H.W. Bush in 1988, when he garnered more than 40% of the state's votes and won four of its counties (making him the most recent Republican to win any Massachusetts counties). Romney outperformed George W. Bush's vote share in 2004 by 0.73%, while Obama underperformed John Kerry's vote share by 1.29%. Obama's 23% margin was the smallest margin since 1992.

As of 2021, this is the last time that the towns of Boxford, Boylston, Cohasset, Dover, Dunstable, Duxbury, Easton, Foxborough, Georgetown, Hamilton, Hingham, Holden, Hopkinton, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Marshfield, Medfield, Norfolk, North Andover, North Attleborough, North Reading, Norwell, Paxton, Princeton, Sandwich, Scituate, Sturbridge, Topsfield, Upton, Walpole, Wenham, West Boylston, Westwood, Wilmington, and Wrentham voted Republican and the last time that the cities of Agawam and Palmer and the towns of Acushnet, Blackstone, Chester, Freetown, Huntington, Leicester, Ludlow, Monroe, Monson, New Braintree, Russell, Swansea, Templeton, Wales, Ware, Warren, and Winchendon voted Democratic in a presidential election.

Primaries[]

Democratic[]

2012 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary

← 2008 March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06) 2016 →

Candidate Barack Obama Party Democratic Home state Illinois Delegate count 110 Popular vote 127,909 Percentage 86.50%

Massachusetts results by county   Barack Obama

Incumbent president Barack Obama won the Massachusetts Democratic Primary with 81% of the vote.^[2][3] He received no official opposition in the primary, with the other 19% of the vote going to write-in candidates. Through the primary and district caucuses, he won all of the state's 110 pledged delegates, which voted for him at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina (the state also had 26 superdelegates).^[3]

Massachusetts Democratic primary, 2012[2][3]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Barack Obama	127,909	86.50%	110
No preference	16,075	10.87%	0
Write-ins	3,889	2.63%	0
Totals	147,873	100.00%	110

Republican[]

2012 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary

← 2008 March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06) 2016 →

Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Ron Paul Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Texas Delegate count 38 0 0 Popular vote 266,313 44,564 35,219 Percentage 71.89% 12.03% 9.51%

Massachusetts results by county   Mitt Romney

The 2012 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary was held on March 6, 2012.^[4][5] Among the 41 delegates to the Republican National Convention, 38 are awarded proportionately among candidates getting at least 15% of the vote statewide, and another three super delegates are unbound.^[6] As expected, Romney won Massachusetts by a landslide. He won the plurality in every town but 10 (Rick Santorum won seven, Ron Paul won two, and no candidate won one), and earned the majority in all but 53.^[7]

Massachusetts Republican primary, 2012^[8]

Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Projected delegate count
			AP	CNN [9]	FOX [10]
Mitt Romney	266,313	71.89%	-	38	38
Rick Santorum	44,564	12.03%	-	0	0
Ron Paul	35,219	9.51%	-	0	0
Newt Gingrich	16,991	4.59%	-	0	0
Jon Huntsman (withdrawn)	2,268	0.61%	-	0	0
Rick Perry (withdrawn)	991	0.27%	-	0	0
Michele Bachmann (withdrawn)	865	0.23%	-	0	0
No preference	1,793	0.48%	-	0	0
Blanks	818	0.22%	-	0	0
Others	613	0.17%	-	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			41	3	3
Total:	370,425	100.00%	41	41	41

Green-Rainbow[]

2012 Massachusetts Green-Rainbow presidential primary

← 2008 March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06) 2016 →

Candidate Jill Stein Kent Mesplay Harley Mikkelson Party Green Green Green Home state Massachusetts California Delegate count 8 1 1 Popular vote 1,018 89 84 Percentage 67.06% 5.86% 5.53%

The 2012 Massachusetts Green-Rainbow presidential primary was held on March 6, 2012.

Massachusetts Green-Rainbow primary, 2012[11]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Jill Stein	1,018	67.06%	8
No preference	232	15.28%	2
Kent Mesplay	89	5.86%	1
Harley Mikkelson	84	5.53%	1
Write-ins	95	6.26%	0
Totals	1,518	100.00%	11

Elections in Massachusetts
General 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Federal government U.S. President 1788–89 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 Dem 2008 Dem GOP 2012 2016 Dem GOP 2020 Dem GOP U.S. Senate Class 1: 1788 1790 1796 (S) 1796 1798 1800 (S) 1803 1808 (S) 1810 (S) 1811 1813 (S) 1815 1815 (S) 1816 (S) 1818 (S) 1820 1820 (S) 1822 1826 1827 1829 (S) 1833 1839 February 1841 (S) 1845 1851 1851 (S) 1857 1863 1869 1874 (S) 1875 1881 1887 1893 1899 1905 1911 1916 1922 1928 1934 1940 1946 1952 1958 1962 (S) 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2010 (S) 2012 2018 2024 Class 2: 1788 1793 1796 1800 (S) 1803 (S) 1805 1810 1811 (S) 1816 1822 (S) 1826 (S) 1828 1835 January 1841 (S) 1841 1845 (S) 1847 1853 1855 (S) 1859 1865 1871 1873 (S) 1877 1883 1889 1895 1901 1905 (S) 1907 1913 1918 1924 1930 1936 1942 1944 (S) 1948 1954 1960 1966 1972 1978 1984 1990 1996 2002 2008 2013 (S) 2014 2020 U.S. House 1788/1789 1790/1792 1792/1793 1794/1795 1796/1797 1798/1799 1800/1801 1802/1803 1804 1806 1808 1810/1811 1812/1813 1814/1815 3rd 1816/1817 1818/1819 1820/1821 1822/1823 1824/1825 1826/1827 1828 1830/1832 1833/1834 1834/1835 1836 1838/1839 1840/1841 1842/1844 1844/1846 1846 1848/1850 1850/1851 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1991 (1st) 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001 (9th) 2002 2004 2006 2007 (5th) 2008 2010 2012 2013 (5th) 2014 2016 2018 2020
State government Governor 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 Apr. 1831 Nov. 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1846 1847 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 State Senate 1787 1824 2004 2006 2008 2010 2018 2020 State House 2006 2008 2020 Governor's Council 2006 Ballot measures 1980: Proposition 2½ 2002: English Language Education in Public Schools 2006: 2008 Greyhound Protection Sensible Marijuana Policy State Income Tax Repeal 2010: No Sales Tax for Alcohol Sales Tax Relief Comprehensive Permits and Regional Planning 2012: Right to Repair Death with Dignity Medical Marijuana 2014: Automatic Gas Tax Increase Repeal Expansion of Bottle Deposits Casino Repeal Paid Sick Days 2016: Expand Slot Machine Gaming Charter School Expansion Farm Animal Confinement Legalization, Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana 2018: Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination 2020: pending
Boston Mayor 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1910 1914 1917 1921 1925 1929 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 City council 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
Springfield Mayor 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 (S) 1973 1975 1977 1979 1983 1981 1985 1987 1989 (S) 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2015 2019
Worcester Mayor 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
v t

2012 U.S. presidential election
Timeline General election debates Electors Polling nationwide statewide Parties
Democratic Party
Candidates Primaries Nominee Convention
Republican Party
Prelude Candidates Debates and forums Primaries National polling Statewide polling Straw Results Nominee VP candidate selection Convention Endorsements
Minor parties Libertarian Party candidates primaries nominee convention Green Party primaries nominee convention Constitution Party nominee convention Justice Party nominee Americans Elect All candidates
Related races
House Senate Governors Vice President Democratic Republican
← 2008 2012 2016 →
v t

General election[]

Candidate Ballot Access:

• Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican
• Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic
• Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green
• Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian

Results[]

2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[12]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	1,921,290	60.65%	11
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,188,314	37.51%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	30,920	0.98%	0
	Green-Rainbow	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	20,691	0.65%	0
	Others	Others		6,552	0.21%	0
Totals				3,167,767	100.00%	11

By county[]

County	Barack Hussein Obama II Democratic		Willard Mitt Romney Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Total votes cast
	%	#	%	#	%	#
Barnstable	52.99%	70,822	45.23%	60,446	1.39%	1,847	133,115
Berkshire	75.34%	48,843	21.98%	14,252	2.16%	1,391	64,486
Bristol	58.74%	142,962	38.52%	93,752	1.99%	4,795	241,509
Dukes	72.34%	7,978	25.32%	2,792	1.81%	198	10,968
Essex	57.13%	210,302	40.88%	150,480	1.52%	5,575	366,357
Franklin	71.19%	27,072	24.57%	9,344	3.55%	1,342	37,758
Hampden	61.23%	123,619	36.35%	73,392	1.69%	3,388	200,399
Hampshire	69.77%	57,359	26.13%	21,480	3.41%	2,782	81,621
Middlesex	62.29%	471,804	35.30%	267,321	1.99%	15,045	754,170
Nantucket	62.33%	3,830	35.59%	2,187	1.68%	103	6,120
Norfolk	56.58%	202,714	41.42%	148,393	1.52%	5,416	356,523
Plymouth	51.16%	131,845	46.98%	121,086	1.40%	3,600	256,531
Suffolk	77.03%	223,896	20.64%	59,999	1.80%	5,203	289,098
Worcester	53.45%	198,244	44.06%	163,390	2.03%	7,478	369,112

See also[]

• United States presidential elections in Massachusetts
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Massachusetts Republican Party

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• The Green Papers: for Massachusetts
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order
• Official Results for 2012 Election in Massachusetts