2012 United States presidential election in Montana

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

Romney Obama The 2012 United States presidential election in Montana 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. Montana voters chose three 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.

Romney carried Montana with 55.30% of the vote to Obama's 41.66%, with a 13.64% margin of victory. Montana was the second-best state performance for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, carrying about 3% of the vote. Montana in 2012 and 2016 had a larger than ever margin for the Libertarian Party.

Romney performed much better than John McCain had in 2008, when he narrowly won over Obama with only a 2.38% margin of victory. Romney also won over five counties that voted for Obama in 2008. Most of the counties Obama won were either majority Native American (such as Big Horn, Blaine, Glacier, and Roosevelt) or have some of Montana's most populous cities and towns, such as Missoula County (containing its namesake city, the second largest in the state and home of the University of Montana) and Silver Bow County (home to Butte and Montana Tech). As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time that a Republican has won Gallatin County or that a Democrat has won Hill County or Roosevelt County.

Obama remains the only Democrat since statehood to win two terms in the White House without carrying Montana either time.

Primary elections

Democratic primary

Republican primary

(Note: Italicization indicates a withdrawn candidacy)

The Republican caucuses took place on June 14 to 16, 2012 as the Montana state convention. Ten days before, the state delegates were selected by the central committee in each county 23 delegates were to have been chosen, for a total of 26 delegates to go to the national convention. Prior to selecting delegates, a non-binding primary election was held June 5, 2012. Results were announced before the Republican National Convention in August.

2012 Montana Republican presidential primary	Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Mitt Romney	96,121	68.4%
Ron Paul	20,227	14.4%
Rick Santorum	12,546	8.9%
Newt Gingrich	6,107	4.3%
No Preference	5,456	3.9%
Unpledged delegates:	25
Total:	140,457		26

Key:	Withdrew prior to contest

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Huffington Post		November 6, 2012
CNN		November 6, 2012
New York Times		November 6, 2012
Washington Post		November 6, 2012
RealClearPolitics		November 6, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball		November 5, 2012
FiveThirtyEight		November 6, 2012

Results

By county

County	Mitt Romney
Republican	Barack Obama
Democratic	Various candidates
Other parties	Margin	Total	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Totals	267,928	55.30%	201,839	41.66%	14,717	3.04%	66,089	13.64%	484,484
	Beaverhead		3,289		68.35%		1,371		28.49%		152		3.16%		1,918		39.86%		4,812
	Big Horn		1,667		36.04%		2,882		62.30%		77		1.66%		-1,215		-26.26%		4,626
	Blaine		1,178		41.20%		1,616		56.52%		65		2.28%		-438		-15.32%		2,859
	Broadwater		2,152		71.47%		764		25.37%		95		3.16%		1,388		46.10%		3,011
	Carbon		3,533		60.42%		2,146		36.70%		168		2.88%		1,387		23.72%		5,847
	Carter		678		85.18%		96		12.06%		22		2.76%		582		73.12%		796
	Cascade		18,345		53.06%		15,232		44.05%		999		2.89%		3,113		9.01%		34,576
	Chouteau		1,758		62.32%		978		34.67%		85		3.01%		780		27.65%		2,821
	Custer		3,373		62.87%		1,833		34.17%		159		2.96%		1,540		28.70%		5,365
	Daniels		740		73.49%		237		23.54%		30		2.97%		503		49.95%		1,007
	Dawson		3,029		68.48%		1,219		27.56%		175		3.96%		1,810		40.92%		4,423
	Deer Lodge		1,448		32.47%		2,860		64.13%		152		3.40%		-1,412		-31.66%		4,460
	Fallon		1,128		80.23%		237		16.86%		41		2.91%		891		63.37%		1,406
	Fergus		4,257		70.12%		1,640		27.01%		174		2.87%		2,617		43.11%		6,071
	Flathead		28,309		64.47%		13,892		31.64%		1,708		3.89%		14,417		32.83%		43,909
	Gallatin		24,358		50.84%		21,961		45.84%		1,589		3.32%		2,397		5.00%		47,908
	Garfield		622		88.73%		66		9.42%		13		1.85%		556		79.31%		701
	Glacier		1,415		31.76%		2,924		65.63%		116		2.61%		-1,509		-33.87%		4,455
	Golden Valley		351		73.28%		110		22.96%		18		3.76%		241		50.32%		479
	Granite		1,107		64.93%		533		31.26%		65		3.81%		574		33.67%		1,705
	Hill		3,164		46.36%		3,403		49.86%		258		3.78%		-239		-3.50%		6,825
	Jefferson		4,055		62.18%		2,272		34.84%		194		2.98%		1,783		27.34%		6,521
	Judith Basin		854		70.29%		337		27.74%		24		1.97%		517		42.55%		1,215
	Lake		7,135		53.63%		5,805		43.63%		364		2.74%		1,330		10.00%		13,304
	Lewis and Clark		16,803		50.43%		15,620		46.88%		895		2.69%		1,183		3.55%		33,318
	Liberty		702		70.34%		257		25.75%		39		3.91%		445		44.59%		998
	Lincoln		6,057		68.13%		2,552		28.71%		281		3.16%		3,505		39.42%		8,890
	Madison		3,130		69.06%		1,289		28.44%		113		2.50%		1,841		40.62%		4,532
	McCone		745		75.03%		223		22.46%		25		2.51%		522		52.57%		993
	Meagher		670		68.93%		269		27.67%		33		3.40%		401		41.26%		972
	Mineral		1,216		60.17%		700		34.64%		105		5.19%		516		25.53%		2,021
	Missoula		22,652		39.58%		32,824		57.35%		1,756		3.07%		-10,172		-17.77%		57,232
	Musselshell		1,833		76.15%		492		20.44%		82		3.41%		1,341		55.71%		2,407
	Park		4,709		53.71%		3,783		43.15%		276		3.14%		926		10.56%		8,768
	Petroleum		240		80.54%		49		16.44%		9		3.02%		191		64.10%		298
	Phillips		1,688		75.76%		471		21.14%		69		3.10%		1,217		54.62%		2,228
	Pondera		1,673		61.53%		975		35.86%		71		2.61%		698		25.67%		2,719
	Powder River		833		81.11%		170		16.55%		24		2.34%		663		64.56%		1,027
	Powell		1,806		65.03%		888		31.98%		83		2.99%		918		33.05%		2,777
	Prairie		520		73.97%		167		23.76%		16		2.27%		353		50.21%		703
	Ravalli		14,307		64.41%		7,285		32.80%		620		2.79%		7,022		31.61%		22,212
	Richland		3,510		75.52%		1,002		21.56%		136		2.92%		2,508		53.96%		4,648
	Roosevelt		1,514		41.23%		2,086		56.81%		72		1.96%		-572		-15.58%		3,672
	Rosebud		2,004		56.88%		1,422		40.36%		152		2.76%		582		16.52%		3,523
	Sanders		3,980		67.45%		1,720		29.15%		201		3.40%		2,260		38.30%		5,901
	Sheridan		1,207		62.60%		665		34.49%		56		2.91%		542		28.11%		1,928
	Silver Bow		5,430		32.41%		10,857		64.79%		469		2.80%		-5,427		-32.38%		16,756
	Stillwater		3,337		70.97%		1,248		26.54%		117		2.49%		2,089		44.43%		4,702
	Sweet Grass		1,594		75.30%		475		22.44%		48		2.26%		1,119		52.86%		2,117
	Teton		2,113		64.40%		1,082		32.98%		86		2.62%		1,031		31.42%		3,281
	Toole		1,440		68.51%		582		27.69%		80		3.80%		858		40.82%		2,102
	Treasure		319		70.11%		114		25.05%		22		4.84%		205		45.06%		455
	Valley		2,337		60.56%		1,385		35.89%		137		3.55%		952		24.67%		3,859
	Wheatland		693		69.86%		272		27.42%		27		2.72%		421		42.44%		992
	Wibaux		421		77.39%		98		18.01%		25		4.60%		323		59.38%		544
	Yellowstone		40,500		58.86%		26,403		38.37%		1,904		2.77%		14,097		20.49%		68,807

Democratic Republican ]]

;Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Cascade (largest city: Great Falls)
• Gallatin (largest city: Bozeman)
• Lake (largest city: Polson)
• Lewis and Clark (largest city: Helena)
• Rosebud (largest city: Colstrip)

By congressional district

Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated, the At-Large District. This district covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results.

District	Romney	Obama	Representative		At-large
55.35%	41.7%		Steve Daines