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2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina

none

Field	Value
election_name	2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina
country	North Carolina
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	2008 United States presidential election in North Carolina
previous_year	2008
election_date	November 6, 2012
next_election	2016 United States presidential election in North Carolina
next_year	2016
image_size	x200px
image1	Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore 6 cropped.jpg
nominee1	Mitt Romney
party1	Republican Party (United States)
home_state1	Massachusetts
running_mate1	Paul Ryan
electoral_vote1	15
popular_vote1	2,270,395
percentage1	50.39%
map_image	{{Switcher
map_caption
title	President
before_election	Barack Obama
before_party	Democratic Party (United States)
after_election	Barack Obama
after_party	Democratic Party (United States)
image2	President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop.jpg
nominee2	Barack Obama
party2	Democratic Party (United States)
home_state2	Illinois
running_mate2	Joe Biden
electoral_vote2	0
popular_vote2	2,178,391
percentage2	48.35%
turnout	68.40%

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

| [[File:North Carolina Presidential Election Results 2012.svg|400px]] | County results | [[File:2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina results map by congressional district.svg|400px]] | Congressional district results | [[File:2012 NC Pres.svg|400px]] | Precinct results Romney Obama The 2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 general election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. North Carolina voters chose 15 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, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan.

Romney narrowly carried the state of North Carolina, winning 50.39% of the vote to Obama's 48.35%, a margin of 2.04 percentage points. North Carolina was one of just two states (along with Indiana) that flipped from voting for Obama in 2008 to voting Republican in 2012. Like Indiana, North Carolina had been a reliably Republican state prior to Obama's 2008 win, having not previously gone Democratic since 1976. Unlike Indiana, however, North Carolina was still considered a competitive swing state in 2012, and both campaigns targeted it heavily, with the Democrats holding their convention in Charlotte. Romney was the first presidential candidate since Zachary Taylor in 1848 to carry North Carolina while losing both Wake County and Mecklenburg County, the two most populous counties and home to the cities of Raleigh and Charlotte, respectively. Romney also became the third-ever Republican to carry North Carolina without winning the presidency after George H. W. Bush in 1992 and Bob Dole in 1996 and this feat would be reprised by Donald Trump in 2020.

Given that Bush was the incumbent president, and Trump was both the incumbent president and then would be re-elected president to a second non-consecutive term four years later, Romney also became the second-ever Republican to carry North Carolina without winning the presidency, the other was Dole. Obama became the first ever Democratic incumbent to win the state only once to then win re-election without it. Although Obama lost North Carolina to Romney, he received more votes than he received in 2008, garnering 35,740 more.

Obama became the first Democrat ever to win the presidency without Caswell and Hyde counties. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time where the Republican presidential candidate won Watauga County and where the Democratic presidential candidate won Bladen County, Gates County, Granville County, Martin County, Richmond County, and Robeson County.

Primary elections

Democratic primary

The 2012 North Carolina Democratic primary was held May 8, 2012. North Carolina awarded 157 delegates proportionally.

No candidate ran against incumbent President Barack Obama in North Carolina's Democratic presidential preference primary. Obama received 766,079 votes, or 79.23% of the vote, with the remainder (200,810 votes, or 20.77%) going to elect delegates with "No Preference".

At the North Carolina Democratic state convention, 152 delegates were awarded to Obama, with 5 delegates remaining unannounced.

Democratic primary election in North Carolina	Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Barack Obama (incumbent)	766,077	79.23%	104
No Preference	200,810	20.77%	43
Totals	966,889	100.00%	104

Republican primary

The 2012 North Carolina Republican primary was held May 8, 2012. North Carolina awarded 55 delegates proportionally. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney were the only active contenders on the ballot. By the time of the primary, Romney had already been declared the party's presumptive nominee.

Romney won the North Carolina GOP presidential primary with 65.62% of the vote. Paul (with 11.12% of the vote) narrowly edged out Santorum (with 10.39% of the vote), and Gingrich came in last with 7.64% of the vote. 5.23% of voters registered "no preference". The awarded delegate count from North Carolina's Republican state convention was Romney with 48 delegates and Paul with 7 delegates.

Republican primary election in North Carolina	Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Mitt Romney	638,601	65.62%	48
Ron Paul	108,217	11.12%	7
Rick Santorum (withdrawn)	101,093	10.39%
Newt Gingrich (withdrawn)	74,367	7.64%
No Preference	50,928	5.23%
Totals	973,206	100.00%	55

General election

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2012 United States presidential election

Throughout most of 2011, Obama won or tied with Romney in every poll. On September 25, 2011, Romney won a poll for the first time, 50% to 39%. Until May 2012, Obama had a consistent but narrow lead over Romney. Throughout the summer of 2012, the tide changed with Romney winning more polls than Obama. In September, Obama's momentum rose and Obama won most polls in September 2012. In October, the tide changed in Romney's favor, and Obama had not won a poll since October 1, 2012. Romney won every poll for the first three weeks in October, but then many polls came as tied between Obama and Romney. Romney led the last poll 50% to 46%, but the second last poll was tied. The last three polls showed an average of Romney leading 49% to 48%, which was accurate compared to the results.

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

2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina	Party	Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage
Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	2,270,395	50.39%	15
Democratic	Barack Obama (incumbent)	Joe Biden (incumbent)	2,178,391	48.35%	0
Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	44,515	0.99%	0
Others (write-in)			12,071	0.27%	0
Totals	4,505,372	100.00%	15
Voter turnout (registered voters)	67.74%

North Carolina 2012 presidential election by precinct

By county

County	Mitt Romney
Republican	Barack Obama
Democratic	Various candidates
Other parties	Margin	Total	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Totals	2,270,395	50.39%	2,178,391	48.35%	56,586	1.26%	92,004	2.04%	4,505,372
	Alamance		38,170		56.32%		28,875		42.60%		731		1.08%		9,295		13.72%		67,776
	Alexander		12,253		71.25%		4,611		26.81%		332		1.94%		7,642		44.44%		17,196
	Alleghany		3,390		66.90%		1,583		31.24%		94		1.86%		1,807		35.66%		5,067
	Anson		4,166		37.01%		7,019		62.36%		71		0.63%		−2,853		−25.35%		11,256
	Ashe		8,242		65.36%		4,116		32.64%		252		2.00%		4,126		32.72%		12,610
	Avery		5,766		74.31%		1,882		24.26%		111		1.43%		3,884		50.05%		7,759
	Beaufort		13,977		59.17%		9,435		39.94%		208		0.89%		4,542		19.23%		23,620
	Bertie		3,387		33.46%		6,695		66.14%		41		0.40%		−3,308		−32.68%		10,123
	Bladen		7,748		48.56%		8,062		50.52%		147		0.92%		−314		−1.96%		15,957
	Brunswick		34,743		60.57%		22,038		38.42%		581		1.01%		12,705		22.15%		57,362
	Buncombe		54,701		42.84%		70,625		55.31%		2,370		1.85%		−15,924		−12.47%		127,696
	Burke		22,267		60.93%		13,701		37.49%		576		1.58%		8,566		23.44%		36,544
	Cabarrus		49,557		59.30%		32,849		39.31%		1,160		1.39%		16,708		19.99%		83,566
	Caldwell		23,229		66.88%		10,898		31.38%		605		1.74%		12,331		35.50%		34,732
	Camden		3,109		66.09%		1,508		32.06%		87		1.85%		1,601		34.03%		4,704
	Carteret		24,775		69.76%		10,301		29.00%		441		1.24%		14,474		40.76%		35,517
	Caswell		5,594		50.67%		5,348		48.45%		97		0.88%		246		2.22%		11,039
	Catawba		44,538		63.99%		24,069		34.58%		994		1.43%		20,469		29.41%		69,601
	Chatham		16,665		47.03%		18,361		51.82%		408		1.15%		−1,696		−4.79%		35,434
	Cherokee		9,278		72.11%		3,378		26.25%		211		1.64%		5,900		45.86%		12,867
	Chowan		3,891		51.85%		3,556		47.38%		58		0.77%		335		4.47%		7,505
	Clay		3,973		70.42%		1,579		27.99%		90		1.59%		2,394		42.43%		5,642
	Cleveland		25,793		59.51%		17,062		39.37%		485		1.12%		8,731		20.14%		43,340
	Columbus		12,941		53.38%		11,050		45.58%		252		1.04%		1,891		7.80%		24,243
	Craven		26,928		58.32%		18,763		40.64%		479		1.04%		8,165		17.68%		46,170
	Cumberland		50,666		39.69%		75,792		59.38%		1,183		0.93%		−25,126		−19.69%		127,641
	Currituck		7,496		66.31%		3,562		31.51%		246		2.18%		3,934		34.80%		11,304
	Dare		10,248		57.02%		7,393		41.13%		333		1.85%		2,855		15.89%		17,974
	Davidson		49,383		69.62%		20,624		29.07%		928		1.31%		28,759		40.55%		70,935
	Davie		14,687		71.05%		5,735		27.75%		248		1.20%		8,952		43.30%		20,670
	Duplin		11,416		55.44%		9,033		43.87%		143		0.69%		2,383		11.57%		20,592
	Durham		33,769		23.01%		111,224		75.80%		1,742		1.19%		−77,455		−52.79%		146,735
	Edgecombe		8,546		31.68%		18,310		67.89%		116		0.43%		−9,764		−36.21%		26,972
	Forsyth		79,768		45.83%		92,323		53.04%		1,978		1.13%		−12,555		−7.21%		174,069
	Franklin		14,603		51.44%		13,436		47.33%		350		1.23%		1,167		4.11%		28,389
	Gaston		56,138		62.04%		33,171		36.66%		1,174		1.30%		22,967		25.38%		90,483
	Gates		2,564		47.52%		2,786		51.63%		46		0.85%		−222		−4.11%		5,396
	Graham		2,750		69.67%		1,119		28.35%		78		1.98%		1,631		41.32%		3,947
	Granville		12,405		47.21%		13,598		51.75%		272		1.04%		−1,193		−4.54%		26,275
	Greene		4,411		53.56%		3,778		45.87%		47		0.57%		633		7.69%		8,236
	Guilford		104,789		41.28%		146,365		57.66%		2,698		1.06%		−41,576		−16.38%		253,852
	Halifax		8,763		33.60%		17,176		65.86%		140		0.54%		−8,413		−32.26%		26,079
	Harnett		25,565		58.89%		17,331		39.92%		519		1.19%		8,234		18.97%		43,415
	Haywood		15,633		55.88%		11,833		42.30%		508		1.82%		3,800		13.58%		27,974
	Henderson		32,994		62.98%		18,642		35.58%		756		1.44%		14,352		27.40%		52,392
	Hertford		3,007		27.54%		7,843		71.84%		68		0.62%		−4,836		−44.30%		10,918
	Hoke		6,819		39.90%		10,076		58.96%		194		1.14%		−3,257		−19.06%		17,089
	Hyde		1,193		50.06%		1,163		48.80%		27		1.14%		30		1.26%		2,383
	Iredell		49,299		64.56%		26,076		34.15%		990		1.29%		23,223		30.41%		76,365
	Jackson		8,254		49.42%		8,095		48.47%		352		2.11%		159		0.95%		16,701
	Johnston		48,427		63.15%		27,290		35.58%		974		1.27%		21,137		27.57%		76,691
	Jones		2,837		54.24%		2,352		44.97%		41		0.79%		485		9.27%		5,230
	Lee		13,158		54.28%		10,801		44.56%		280		1.16%		2,357		9.72%		24,239
	Lenoir		13,980		49.78%		13,948		49.66%		158		0.56%		32		0.12%		28,086
	Lincoln		25,267		68.71%		11,024		29.98%		484		1.31%		14,243		38.73%		36,775
	Macon		10,835		64.26%		5,712		33.88%		314		1.86%		5,123		30.38%		16,861
	Madison		5,404		53.44%		4,484		44.34%		225		2.22%		920		9.10%		10,113
	Martin		5,995		47.38%		6,583		52.03%		74		0.59%		−588		−4.65%		12,652
	McDowell		11,775		65.06%		6,031		33.32%		293		1.62%		5,744		31.74%		18,099
	Mecklenburg		171,668		38.24%		272,262		60.65%		4,970		1.11%		−100,594		−22.41%		448,900
	Mitchell		5,806		74.77%		1,838		23.67%		121		1.56%		3,968		51.10%		7,765
	Montgomery		6,404		57.02%		4,706		41.90%		121		1.08%		1,698		15.12%		11,231
	Moore		29,495		63.55%		16,505		35.56%		415		0.89%		12,990		27.99%		46,415
	Nash		23,842		49.17%		24,313		50.14%		337		0.69%		−471		−0.97%		48,492
	New Hanover		53,385		51.52%		48,668		46.96%		1,575		1.52%		4,717		4.56%		103,628
	Northampton		3,483		32.38%		7,232		67.24%		41		0.38%		−3,749		−34.86%		10,756
	Onslow		32,243		62.69%		18,490		35.95%		702		1.36%		13,753		26.74%		51,435
	Orange		21,539		28.06%		53,901		70.22%		1,317		1.72%		−32,362		−42.16%		76,757
	Pamlico		4,051		59.91%		2,647		39.15%		64		0.94%		1,404		20.76%		6,762
	Pasquotank		7,633		42.15%		10,282		56.78%		192		1.07%		−2,649		−14.63%		18,107
	Pender		14,617		59.60%		9,632		39.27%		278		1.13%		4,985		20.33%		24,527
	Perquimans		3,822		57.46%		2,759		41.48%		71		1.06%		1,063		15.98%		6,652
	Person		10,496		54.94%		8,418		44.06%		192		1.00%		2,078		10.88%		19,106
	Pitt		36,214		45.92%		41,843		53.06%		799		1.02%		−5,629		−7.14%		78,856
	Polk		6,236		60.03%		4,013		38.63%		140		1.34%		2,223		21.40%		10,389
	Randolph		45,160		74.38%		14,773		24.33%		782		1.29%		30,387		50.05%		60,715
	Richmond		9,332		48.06%		9,904		51.01%		181		0.93%		−572		−2.95%		19,417
	Robeson		17,510		40.77%		24,988		58.18%		448		1.05%		−7,478		−17.41%		42,946
	Rockingham		25,227		60.04%		16,351		38.91%		442		1.05%		8,876		21.13%		42,020
	Rowan		38,775		62.23%		22,650		36.35%		887		1.42%		16,125		25.88%		62,312
	Rutherford		18,954		66.04%		9,374		32.66%		374		1.30%		9,580		33.38%		28,702
	Sampson		14,422		55.10%		11,566		44.19%		186		0.71%		2,856		10.91%		26,174
	Scotland		5,831		41.19%		8,215		58.03%		110		0.78%		−2,384		−16.84%		14,156
	Stanly		19,904		69.31%		8,431		29.36%		382		1.33%		11,473		39.95%		28,717
	Stokes		15,237		70.48%		6,018		27.84%		364		1.68%		9,219		42.64%		21,619
	Surry		19,923		67.60%		9,112		30.92%		435		1.48%		10,811		36.68%		29,470
	Swain		2,976		51.96%		2,618		45.71%		134		2.33%		358		6.25%		5,728
	Transylvania		9,634		57.47%		6,826		40.72%		303		1.81%		2,808		16.75%		16,763
	Tyrrell		930		52.16%		837		46.94%		16		0.90%		93		5.22%		1,783
	Union		61,107		64.51%		32,473		34.28%		1,148		1.21%		28,634		30.23%		94,728
	Vance		7,429		35.62%		13,323		63.89%		102		0.49%		−5,894		−28.27%		20,854
	Wake		211,596		43.50%		267,262		54.94%		7,569		1.56%		−55,666		−11.44%		486,427
	Warren		3,140		30.90%		6,978		68.67%		44		0.43%		−3,838		−37.77%		10,162
	Washington		2,622		40.34%		3,833		58.98%		44		0.68%		−1,211		−18.64%		6,499
	Watauga		13,861		50.09%		13,002		46.98%		811		2.93%		859		3.11%		27,674
	Wayne		27,641		53.83%		23,314		45.40%		397		0.77%		4,327		8.43%		51,352
	Wilkes		20,515		70.39%		8,148		27.96%		482		1.65%		12,367		42.43%		29,145
	Wilson		17,954		45.91%		20,875		53.38%		280		0.71%		−2,921		−7.47%		39,109
	Yadkin		12,578		74.81%		3,957		23.54%		278		1.65%		8,621		51.27%		16,813
	Yancey		5,278		55.85%		3,981		42.12%		192		2.03%		1,297		13.73%		9,451

County flips: {{col-begin}}

Democratic Republican ]]

;Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Caswell (largest town: Yanceyville)
Hyde (largest community: Ocracoke)
Jackson (largest town: Cullowhee)
Watauga (largest town: Boone)

;Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Nash (largest city: Rocky Mount)

By congressional district

Romney won ten of the state's 13 congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat.

District	Romney	Representative
28%	72%	G. K. Butterfield
57%	42%	Renee Ellmers
58%	41%	Walter B. Jones
27%	71%	David Price
59%	40%	Virginia Foxx
58%	41%	Howard Coble
59%	40%	Mike McIntyre
58%	41%	Larry Kissell
	Richard Hudson
56%	43%	Sue Myrick
	Robert Pittenger
58%	41%	Patrick McHenry
61%	38%	Heath Shuler
	Mark Meadows
21%	79%	Mel Watt
55%	44%	Brad Miller
	George Holding

References

"Voter Turnout".
"North Carolina Democrat". The Green Papers.
"NC - Election Results".
"Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". [[CNN]].
"Presidential Primary Dates". [[Federal Election Commission]].
"North Carolina Republican". The Green Papers.
(April 25, 2012). "RNC officially names Mitt Romney the party's 'presumptive nominee'". LA Times.
"RealClearPolitics - Election 2012 - North Carolina: Romney vs. Obama".
"Huffington Post Election Dashboard". [[HuffPost]].
"America's Choice 2012 Election Center: CNN Electoral Map". [[CNN]].
"Election 2012 - The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory". [[The New York Times]].
"2012 Presidential Election Results". The Washington Post.
"RealClearPolitics - 2012 Election Maps - Battle for White House".
"PROJECTION: OBAMA WILL LIKELY WIN SECOND TERM".
"Nate Silver's political calculations predict 2012 election outcome".
"North Carolina State Board of Elections".
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HZWeHJXb5vBHA62zMa2ja_HJkxuLtQ7a9NJfDXMUNb8/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Info: Wikipedia Source

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