2012 United States presidential election in Minnesota

2012 United States presidential election in Minnesota

← 2008 November 6, 2012 2016 →
Turnout	76.42%[1]
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney Party Democratic (DFL) Republican Home state Illinois Massachusetts Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 1,546,167 1,320,225 Percentage 52.65% 44.96%
County Results Obama   40-50%   50-60%   60-70% Romney   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

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The 2012 United States presidential election in Minnesota 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. State voters chose ten 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.

Minnesota backed Obama for re-election, giving him 52.65% of the vote, while Republican challenger Mitt Romney took 44.96%, a victory margin of 7.69%. With ten Democratic wins in a row, Minnesota has the longest current streak of voting for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections of any state, having not voted Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972. This is the longest streak for the Democrats in history amongst non-Southern states.^[2]

However, Romney was able to significantly improve on McCain's performance in the North Star State, as he did nationally. Fourteen counties which voted for Obama in 2008 flipped and voted for the Republican Party in 2012, while many Democratic counties had a margin of victory much narrower than in 2008. Many of these counties had not voted for a Republican in decades, such as Big Stone County which only voted for a Republican only once since 1952 for Dwight D. Eisenhower until this election. ^[3]

As of the 2020 election, this is the most recent time the Democratic candidate won the following counties: Beltrami, Chippewa, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Lac qui Parle, Mahnomen, Mower, Norman, Rice, Swift, and Traverse. It is also, to date, the most recently that Minnesota voted to the left of Colorado and Virginia, two former Republican strongholds that rapidly transitioned to being reliably blue in the 2010s.

Democratic caucuses[]

2012 Minnesota Democratic presidential caucus

← 2008 February 7, 2012 (2012-02-07) 2016 →

Candidate Barack Obama Home state Illinois Delegate count 91 Popular vote 16,733 Percentage 96.3%

Minnesota results by county   Barack Obama   No votes

2012 Minnesota Democratic caucus[4]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Barack Obama	16,733	96.30%	91
Uncommited	643	3.70%	0

Republican caucuses[]

2012 Minnesota Republican presidential caucus

← 2008 February 7, 2012 (2012-02-07) 2016 →

Candidate Rick Santorum Ron Paul Home state Pennsylvania Texas Popular vote 21,988 13,282 Percentage 44.95% 27.15%   Candidate Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Home state Massachusetts Georgia Popular vote 8,240 5,263 Percentage 16.85% 10.76%

Minnesota results by county   Rick Santorum   Ron Paul   Tie

The Republican caucuses were held on February 7, 2012.^[5] The events coincided with the Colorado Republican caucuses as well as the Missouri Republican primary. Minnesota has a total of 40 delegates, 37 of which are tied to the caucuses while 3 are unpledged RNC delegates. The non-binding straw poll was won by Rick Santorum, but Ron Paul won 32 of the 40 delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Results with 100.0% (4,137 of 4,137 precincts) reporting:

Election Reporting[6][7][8][9][10]
Candidate	Votes		Delegates
	Total	Percentage	Total	Percentage
Rick Santorum	21,988	44.95%	2	5%
Ron Paul	13,282	27.15%	32	80%
Mitt Romney	8,240	16.85%	1	2.5%
Newt Gingrich	5,263	10.76%	0	0%
Write-in	143	0.29%	0	0%
Unpledged delegates:			5	12.5%
Total:	48,916	100.0%	40	100.0%

Conventions[]

There is no formal system of allocating delegates to candidates in any step of the election process. At each meeting the participants decides what the best course of action is. The state convention can vote to bind the 13 at-large delegates to a candidate. The 24 delegates elected at the CD conventions and the 3 automatic (RNC) delegates are not legally bound to vote for a candidate.

• 17 February - 31 March: BPOU conventions elect delegates to the state convention and the congressional district conventions.
• 14–21 April: Eight congressional conventions elect 3 National Convention delegates each.
• 18–19 May: State convention elect 13 National Convention delegates.^[11]

Convention Results[7][9][10]
Candidate	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	State	Party leaders	Total
Ron Paul	2	3	3	3	3	3	1	2	12	0	32
Rick Santorum	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Mitt Romney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Unknown	1							1		3	5
Total	24								13	3	40

General election[]

Results[]

2012 United States presidential election in Minnesota[12]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	1,546,167	52.65%	10
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,320,225	44.96%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	35,098	1.20%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	13,023	0.44%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	3,722	0.13%	0
	Grassroots	Jim Carlson	George McMahon	3,149	0.11%	0
	Justice	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	1,996	0.07%	0
	Constitutional Government	Dean Morstad	Josh Franke-Hyland	1,092	0.04%	0
	Socialist Workers	James Harris	Maura DeLuca	1,051	0.04%	0
	Socialism and Liberation	Peta Lindsay	Yari Osorio	397	0.01%	0
	Write-Ins			10,641	0.36%	0
Totals				2,936,561	100.00%	10
Voter turnout (eligible voters)						75.74%

By county[]

County	Obama %	Obama Votes	Romney %	Romney Votes	Others %	Others Votes	Total Votes
Aitkin	48.26%	4,412	49.58%	4,533	2.15%	197	9,142
Anoka	47.52%	88,611	50.11%	93,430	2.37%	4,420	186,461
Becker	41.69%	6,829	56.18%	9,204	2.13%	349	16,382
Beltrami	53.59%	11,818	43.70%	9,637	2.70%	596	22,051
Benton	41.66%	8,173	55.30%	10,849	3.04%	597	19,619
Big Stone	48.23%	1,345	49.66%	1,385	2.12%	59	2,789
Blue Earth	53.00%	18,164	43.52%	14,916	3.48%	1,194	34,274
Brown	40.42%	5,630	56.99%	7,938	2.59%	361	13,929
Carlton	61.78%	11,389	35.72%	6,586	2.50%	461	18,436
Carver	39.22%	20,745	58.90%	31,155	1.89%	999	52,899
Cass	42.49%	6,858	55.49%	8,957	2.02%	326	16,141
Chippewa	49.72%	3,083	47.85%	2,967	2.44%	151	6,201
Chisago	42.54%	12,524	55.12%	16,227	2.34%	690	29,441
Clay	52.65%	15,208	44.73%	12,920	2.62%	758	28,886
Clearwater	41.77%	1,753	56.21%	2,359	2.03%	85	4,197
Cook	59.99%	1,993	36.75%	1,221	3.25%	108	3,322
Cottonwood	41.50%	2,433	56.57%	3,316	1.93%	113	5,862
Crow Wing	42.27%	14,760	55.60%	19,415	2.13%	745	34,920
Dakota	50.37%	116,252	47.45%	109,514	2.19%	5,049	230,815
Dodge	43.46%	4,487	53.48%	5,522	3.06%	316	10,325
Douglas	41.29%	8,665	56.73%	11,905	1.98%	416	20,986
Faribault	44.17%	3,407	53.21%	4,104	2.62%	202	7,713
Fillmore	52.45%	5,713	45.11%	4,913	2.44%	266	10,892
Freeborn	55.82%	9,326	41.72%	6,969	2.46%	411	16,706
Goodhue	47.33%	12,212	50.33%	12,986	2.34%	603	25,801
Grant	47.23%	1,647	50.13%	1,748	2.64%	92	3,487
Hennepin	62.34%	423,979	35.30%	240,073	2.35%	16,007	680,059
Houston	50.56%	5,281	47.40%	4,951	2.05%	214	10,446
Hubbard	40.59%	4,676	57.48%	6,622	1.93%	222	11,520
Isanti	39.69%	8,024	57.75%	11,675	2.56%	518	20,217
Itasca	53.73%	12,852	43.90%	10,500	2.37%	566	23,918
Jackson	41.77%	2,268	56.06%	3,044	2.17%	118	5,430
Kanabec	44.09%	3,593	53.10%	4,328	2.81%	229	8,150
Kandiyohi	45.68%	9,806	52.36%	11,239	1.96%	420	21,465
Kittson	51.32%	1,241	45.29%	1,095	3.39%	82	2,418
Koochiching	53.44%	3,451	43.99%	2,841	2.57%	166	6,458
Lac Qui Parle	49.55%	1,974	48.64%	1,938	1.81%	72	3,984
Lake	59.31%	4,043	38.29%	2,610	2.41%	164	6,817
Lake of the Woods	38.45%	859	58.46%	1,306	3.09%	69	2,234
Le Sueur	45.65%	6,753	52.14%	7,714	2.21%	327	14,794
Lincoln	45.80%	1,428	51.12%	1,594	3.08%	96	3,118
Lyon	44.11%	5,465	53.23%	6,595	2.66%	329	12,389
Mahnomen	58.48%	1,276	39.92%	871	1.60%	35	2,182
Marshall	42.53%	1,998	54.68%	2,569	2.79%	131	4,698
Martin	36.96%	4,054	60.69%	6,657	2.34%	257	10,968
McLeod	37.56%	6,968	59.66%	11,069	2.78%	516	18,553
Meeker	40.68%	4,969	56.60%	6,913	2.72%	332	12,214
Mille Lacs	44.53%	5,829	53.10%	6,951	2.38%	311	13,091
Morrison	36.81%	6,153	60.78%	10,159	2.41%	402	16,714
Mower	60.03%	11,129	37.42%	6,938	2.55%	472	18,539
Murray	45.31%	2,160	52.53%	2,504	2.16%	103	4,767
Nicollet	52.58%	9,652	44.75%	8,214	2.67%	491	18,357
Nobles	44.52%	3,793	53.77%	4,581	1.71%	146	8,520
Norman	53.94%	1,730	43.16%	1,384	2.90%	93	3,207
Olmsted	50.23%	39,338	47.03%	36,832	2.74%	2,146	78,316
Otter Tail	38.41%	12,165	59.55%	18,860	2.04%	645	31,670
Pennington	46.41%	3,024	50.71%	3,304	2.89%	188	6,516
Pine	48.34%	6,750	49.02%	6,845	2.65%	370	13,965
Pipestone	37.13%	1,725	60.83%	2,826	2.04%	95	4,646
Polk	46.10%	6,773	51.83%	7,615	2.08%	305	14,693
Pope	47.73%	2,981	50.30%	3,142	1.97%	123	6,246
Ramsey	66.33%	184,936	31.13%	86,799	2.54%	7,086	278,821
Red Lake	46.99%	928	49.52%	978	3.49%	69	1,975
Redwood	38.61%	3,008	58.66%	4,570	2.72%	212	7,790
Renville	44.02%	3,394	53.81%	4,149	2.17%	167	7,710
Rice	52.85%	17,054	44.58%	14,384	2.57%	829	32,267
Rock	40.16%	1,946	57.99%	2,810	1.86%	90	4,846
Roseau	37.70%	2,772	59.97%	4,409	2.33%	171	7,352
Saint Louis	63.48%	73,378	33.85%	39,131	2.67%	3,085	115,594
Scott	41.47%	29,712	56.28%	40,323	2.25%	1,612	71,647
Sherburne	37.84%	17,597	59.88%	27,848	2.29%	1,064	46,509
Sibley	37.31%	2,916	60.05%	4,693	2.64%	206	7,815
Stearns	42.75%	33,551	54.81%	43,015	2.44%	1911	78,477
Steele	45.52%	8,706	51.78%	9,903	2.69%	515	19,124
Stevens	48.51%	2,742	48.94%	2,766	2.55%	144	5,652
Swift	53.74%	2,751	43.91%	2,248	2.34%	120	5,119
Todd	40.83%	4,819	56.93%	6,719	2.25%	265	11,803
Traverse	51.06%	942	46.61%	860	2.33%	43	1,845
Wabasha	46.03%	5,415	51.42%	6,049	2.54%	299	11,763
Wadena	36.70%	2,492	61.02%	4,143	2.28%	155	6,790
Waseca	44.83%	4,370	52.49%	5,116	2.68%	261	9,747
Washington	49.39%	70,203	48.64%	69,137	1.97%	2,793	142,133
Watonwan	48.48%	2,494	48.93%	2,517	2.59%	133	5,144
Wilkin	39.04%	1,258	58.47%	1,884	2.48%	80	3,222
Winona	55.01%	14,980	42.16%	11,480	2.83%	772	27,232
Wright	37.95%	25,739	59.67%	40,468	2.37%	1,609	67,816
Yellow Medicine	45.53%	2,465	51.83%	2,806	2.64%	143	5,414
Minnesota Total	52.65%	1,546,021	44.95%	1,320,048	2.38%	70,139	2,936,208

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican[]

• Aitkin (largest city: Aitkin)
• Big Stone (largest city: Ortonville)
• Grant (largest city: Elbow Lake)
• Lincoln (largest city: Tyler)
• Marshall (largest city: Warren)
• Murray (largest city: Slayton)
• Pennington (largest city: Thief River Falls)
• Pine (largest city: Pine City)
• Polk (largest city: East Grand Forks)
• Pope (largest city: Glenwood)
• Red Lake (largest city: Red Lake Falls)
• Stevens (largest city: Morris)
• Watonwan (largest city: St. James)
• Yellow Medicine (largest city: Granite Falls)

See also[]

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

References[]

External links[]

• 2012 Election Central: 2012 Primary Schedule
• The Green Papers: Minnesota Republican Delegation 2012
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order