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2012 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

none

Field	Value
election_name	2012 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
country	Washington
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	2008 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
previous_year	2008
election_date	November 6, 2012
next_election	2016 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
next_year	2016
turnout	81.25% (of registered voters)
3.36%<ref>{{Cite web	url	https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20121106/Turnout.html	title=November 6, 2012 General Election Results	author=Secretary of State: Kim Wyman	website=www.sos.wa.gov	access-date=May 25, 2020}}
image_size	x200px
image1	President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop.jpg
nominee1	Barack Obama
party1	Democratic Party (United States)
home_state1	Illinois
running_mate1	Joe Biden
electoral_vote1	12
popular_vote1	1,755,396
percentage1	56.16%
image2	Mitt_Romney_by_Gage_Skidmore_6_cropped.jpg
nominee2	Mitt Romney
party2	Republican Party (United States)
home_state2	Massachusetts
running_mate2	Paul Ryan
electoral_vote2	0
popular_vote2	1,290,670
percentage2	41.29%
map_image	{{Switcher
title	President
before_election	Barack Obama
before_party	Democratic Party (United States)
after_election	Barack Obama
after_party	Democratic Party (United States)

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

3.36% | [[File:Washington Presidential Election Results 2012.svg|350px]] | County results | [[File:WA-12-pres-districts.svg|350px]] | Congressional district results | [[File:WA President 2012.svg|350px]] | Precinct results Obama Romney Tie/No Data The 2012 United States presidential election in Washington 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. Washington voters chose 12 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.

President Obama easily won the state of Washington, taking 56.16% of the vote to Mitt Romney's 41.29%, a 14.87% margin of victory. In terms of raw vote total, Obama received 1,755,396 votes to Romney's 1,290,670 votes, a 464,726 vote margin. Obama received the largest number of votes of any candidate up to that point, a record which would be broken by his then-running mate Joe Biden in 2020, when Biden broke Obama's record by 614,216 votes. Third parties collectively made up 79,450 votes, or 2.54%. Obama led in every single poll conducted, often by double digits. Washington has not voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan carried it in his 1984 landslide, and today is considered part of the Blue Wall, a bloc of 242 electoral votes that have safely voted for the Democratic nominee since 1992. Despite being a Republican-leaning swing state in the early- to mid-20th century, the rise of cultural conservatism and resistance to social liberalism in the Republican Party pushed voters in Washington, as well as many other Blue Wall states, away from the Republicans.

As of the most recent election in Washington held in 2024, this is the last time in which Cowlitz County, Grays Harbor County, Mason County, and Pacific County voted Democratic, and also the last in which Whitman County voted Republican.

Caucuses

Democratic caucuses

As incumbent President Barack Obama ran without opposition nationwide, the non-binding primary was canceled by the Washington State Legislature. Precinct caucuses took place on April 15, legislative district caucuses on April 28, county conventions on April 29, and congressional district caucuses on May 30. The Washington state convection took place from June 1 to 3, and according to The Green Papers, Obama ran unopposed in the caucuses, receiving 114 delegates in the Democratic National Convention floor vote. The other 6 delegates' votes were unannounced.

Republican caucuses

Main article: 2012 Washington Republican presidential caucuses

Results of the non-binding strawpoll by county. Orange indicates a county won by Romney, gold by Paul, dark green by Santorum.

The Republican caucuses were held on March 3, 2012. The additional preferential primary, as held since 1992, was canceled this year for budgetary reasons, as was the one in 2004. Caucus participants, however, did not allocate national delegates to the candidates – they only elected delegates to the county conventions and took part in a nonbinding straw poll. Only the state convention from May 31 to June 2, 2012, legally pledged delegates to the national convention to specific candidates.

Results

With 3,677,919 registered voters as of February 29, the turnout was 1.4%. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won the caucuses with a plurality, receiving 19,111 votes or 37.65%. Ron Paul, representative from Texas's 14th district, narrowly won second place with 24.81% of the vote against former Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum's 23.81%. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich placed fourth, with 5,221 votes, or 10.28%. The other 3.44% of votes were uncommitted or write-ins.

Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Mitt Romney	19,111	37.65%
Ron Paul	12,594	24.81%
Rick Santorum	12,089	23.81%
Newt Gingrich	5,221	10.28%
Uncommitted	1,656	3.26%
Total Write-Ins	93	0.18%
Totals	50,764	100.00%

Convention

At the Republican National Convention, Romney received all 3 delegates from the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th districts. Ron Paul received 2 delegates from the 3rd district and all 3 from the 7th. The 3rd district also allocated 1 delegate to Rick Santorum. All 10 state delegates were allocated to Romney, as were the 3 superdelegates.

Convention Results	Candidate	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	State	Party
leaders	Total
Mitt Romney	3	3	0	3	3	3	0	3	3	3	10	3	37
Ron Paul	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	5
Rick Santorum	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	30	10	3	43

General election

Polling

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

President Obama consistently led in polling up until election day: at one point, a SurveyUSA poll conducted from September 28 to 30 had him leading by 20 points. In only two polls did Obama lead by single digits: a Public Policy Polling poll conducted October 15 to 16 had him leading by 5 points, and another conducted November 1 to 3 had him up 7. An average of all polls conducted before election day had Obama leading by 13.6 percentage points.

Poll source	Date administered	%	Republican	%	Lead margin	Sample Size	Margin of error
YouGov	October 31 – November 3, 2012	Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	40%	14	837 LV	±--%
Public Policy Polling	November 1–3, 2012	Barack Obama	53%	Mitt Romney	46%	7	932 LV	±3.2%
Survey USA	October 28–31, 2012	Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	40%	14	555 LV	±4.2%
University of Washington	October 18–31, 2012	Barack Obama	57%	Mitt Romney	36%	21	632 LV	±3.9%
Strategies 360	October 17–20, 2012	Barack Obama	52%	Mitt Romney	39%	13	500 LV	±4.4%
Public Policy Polling	October 15–16, 2012	Barack Obama	50%	Mitt Romney	45%	5	574 LV	±--%
The Washington Poll	October 1–16, 2012	Barack Obama	52%	Mitt Romney	41%	11	782 LV	±3.5%
Rasmussen Reports	October 14, 2012	Barack Obama	55%	Mitt Romney	42%	13	500 LV	±4.5%
SurveyUSA	October 12–14, 2012	Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	40%	14	543 LV	±4.3%
SurveyUSA	September 28–30, 2012	Barack Obama	56%	Mitt Romney	36%	20	540 LV	±4.3%
Rasmussen Reports	September 26, 2012	Barack Obama	52%	Mitt Romney	41%	11	500 LV	±4.5%
Gravis Marketing	September 21–22, 2012	Barack Obama	56%	Mitt Romney	39%	17	625 RV	±4.6%
Elway	September 9–12, 2012	Barack Obama	53%	Mitt Romney	36%	17	405 RV	±5.0%
Public Policy Polling	September 7–9, 2012	Barack Obama	53%	Mitt Romney	42%	11	563	±n/a%
KING5NEWS/SurveyUSA	September 7–9, 2012	Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	38%	16	700	±4.4%

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

Candidate ballot access

Barack Hussein Obama / Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., Democratic
Willard Mitt Romney / Paul Davis Ryan, Republican
Gary Earl Johnson / James Polin Gray, Libertarian
Virgil Hamlin Good Jr. / James N. Clymer, Constitution
Jill Ellen Stein / Cheri Lynn Honkala, Green
Peta Lindsay / Yari Osorio, Socialism and Liberation
James Harris / Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers
Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson / Luis Javier Rodriguez, Justice

Results

Joe Biden Paul Ryan Jim Gray Cheri Honkala Jim Clymer Luis J. Rodriguez Yari Osorio Alyson Kennedy

By county

County	Barack Obama
Democratic	Mitt Romney
Republican	Various candidates
Other parties	Margin	Total	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Totals	1,755,396	56.16%	1,290,670	41.29%	79,450	2.54%	464,726	14.87%	3,125,516
	Adams		1,540		32.13%		3,171		66.16%		82		1.71%		-1,631		-34.03%		4,793
	Asotin		4,003		40.43%		5,654		57.11%		244		2.46%		-1,651		-16.68%		9,901
	Benton		28,145		35.38%		49,461		62.17%		1,953		2.45%		-21,316		-26.79%		79,559
	Chelan		13,112		40.66%		18,402		57.06%		736		2.28%		-5,290		-16.40%		32,250
	Clallam		18,580		48.81%		18,437		48.43%		1,049		2.76%		143		0.38%		38,066
	Clark		93,382		48.94%		92,951		48.72%		4,472		2.34%		431		0.23%		190,805
	Columbia		645		28.55%		1,568		69.41%		46		2.04%		-923		-40.86%		2,259
	Cowlitz		22,726		50.93%		20,746		46.49%		1,148		2.57%		1,980		4.44%		44,620
	Douglas		5,166		34.57%		9,425		63.08%		351		2.35%		-4,259		-28.50%		14,942
	Ferry		1,294		37.62%		1,995		57.99%		151		4.39%		-701		-20.38%		3,440
	Franklin		8,398		37.09%		13,748		60.72%		497		2.19%		-5,350		-23.63%		22,643
	Garfield		336		26.29%		913		71.44%		29		2.27%		-577		-45.15%		1,278
	Grant		8,950		32.48%		17,852		64.78%		756		2.74%		-8,902		-32.30%		27,558
	Grays Harbor		15,960		55.64%		11,914		41.54%		810		2.82%		4,046		14.11%		28,684
	Island		21,478		51.02%		19,605		46.57%		1,016		2.41%		1,873		4.45%		42,099
	Jefferson		12,739		64.24%		6,405		32.30%		685		3.45%		6,334		31.94%		19,829
	King		668,004		69.07%		275,700		28.51%		23,450		2.42%		392,304		40.56%		967,154
	Kitsap		67,277		54.53%		52,846		42.84%		3,244		2.63%		14,431		11.70%		123,367
	Kittitas		7,949		43.75%		9,782		53.83%		440		2.42%		-1,833		-10.09%		18,171
	Klickitat		4,598		44.75%		5,316		51.74%		360		3.50%		-718		-6.99%		10,274
	Lewis		12,664		37.20%		20,452		60.08%		928		2.73%		-7,788		-22.88%		34,044
	Lincoln		1,673		28.49%		4,063		69.19%		136		2.32%		-2,390		-40.70%		5,872
	Mason		14,764		52.29%		12,761		45.20%		710		2.51%		2,003		7.09%		28,235
	Okanogan		7,108		42.19%		9,221		54.74%		517		3.07%		-2,113		-12.54%		16,846
	Pacific		5,711		54.27%		4,499		42.75%		314		2.98%		1,212		11.52%		10,524
	Pend Oreille		2,508		37.61%		3,952		59.27%		208		3.12%		-1,444		-21.66%		6,668
	Pierce		186,430		54.37%		148,467		43.30%		8,013		2.34%		37,963		11.07%		342,910
	San Juan		7,125		67.26%		3,111		29.37%		358		3.38%		4,014		37.89%		10,594
	Skagit		28,688		51.91%		25,071		45.36%		1,510		2.73%		3,617		6.54%		55,269
	Skamania		2,628		48.08%		2,687		49.16%		151		2.76%		-59		-1.08%		5,466
	Snohomish		188,516		57.16%		133,016		40.33%		8,285		2.51%		55,500		16.83%		329,817
	Spokane		102,295		45.70%		115,285		51.51%		6,250		2.79%		-12,990		-5.80%		223,830
	Stevens		7,762		35.03%		13,691		61.78%		708		3.19%		-5,929		-26.75%		22,161
	Thurston		74,037		58.27%		49,287		38.79%		3,739		2.94%		24,750		19.48%		127,063
	Wahkiakum		1,094		47.69%		1,119		48.78%		81		3.53%		-25		-1.09%		2,294
	Walla Walla		9,768		38.90%		14,648		58.34%		692		2.76%		-4,880		-19.44%		25,108
	Whatcom		57,089		55.41%		42,703		41.45%		3,237		3.14%		14,386		13.96%		103,029
	Whitman		8,037		46.94%		8,507		49.69%		577		3.37%		-470		-2.75%		17,121
	Yakima		33,217		43.15%		42,239		54.88%		1,517		1.97%		-9,022		-11.72%		76,973

;Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Klickitat (largest city: Goldendale)
Skamania (largest community: Carson)
Wahkhiakum (largest community: Puget Island)
Whitman (largest city: Pulman)

| | | | |

Democratic Republican

By congressional district

President Obama won seven of ten congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.

District	Barack Obama	Representative
54.1%	43.3%	Jay Inslee ([111th Congress](111th-united-states-congress))
	Suzan DelBene ([112th Congress](112th-united-states-congress))
59.2%	38.0%	Rick Larsen
47.9%	49.6%	Jaime Herrera Beutler
37.9%	59.7%	Doc Hastings
43.7%	53.5%	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
56.1%	41.2%	Norm Dicks ([111th Congress](111th-united-states-congress))
	Derek Kilmer ([112th Congress](112th-united-states-congress))
79.2%	18.1%	Jim McDermott
49.7%	48.1%	Dave Reichert
68.3%	29.6%	Adam Smith
56.3%	41.1%	Denny Heck

Analysis

As with all other Pacific states, Washington politics are dominated by its progressive metropolitan areas. Washington itself is one of the most progressive states in the country, most notably on women's issues: it was one of the first states to loosen abortion restrictions and is the United States' 7th most secular state. Economically, while Washington was historically a socially liberal and economically conservative state, it has become more dominated by leftism in the past few years at the presidential, congressional, and local level. Thus, an Obama win was near guaranteed. He dominated the Seattle–Tacoma metropolitan area, winning 69.07% of the vote (a 40.56% margin) in King County, the largest in the state and home to Seattle. King County alone casts 29% of the state's ballots, and the Seattle metropolitan area (as defined by the United States Census Bureau) comprised 69.66% of the state's population in 2012. This area of Washington also has the highest minority composition with a 15% Asian, 9% Hispanic, and 7% African American population, and is dominated by diverse, well-educated voters. The Seattle LGBT community is one of the largest in the country. Thurston County, the 6th largest county in the state and home to the state capital of Olympia, gave Obama 58.27% of the vote, a 19.48% margin. The Democratic ticket also won by great margins in the counties of (in decreasing order of margin) Snohomish (Everett), Whatcom (Bellingham), Kitsap (Bremerton), and Pierce (Tacoma). Clark County, home to Vancouver, in the southwest of the state, was won by the president with a 431-vote margin. Overall, Western Washington voted 7.7% more Democratic than the state overall.

Meanwhile, Romney's best performance was in the east of the state, which is mostly rural and sparse and has an economy dominated by agriculture. Washington's geographic divide resembles that of California and Oregon: voters east of the Cascade Mountains are the most conservative in Washington, and Eastern Washington voted 28.5% more Republican than the state as a whole. While comprising most of the counties in the state, this area casts only one-fifth of the ballots. Though many of these counties the Republicans won with over 60% of the vote, these victories were not able to offset Obama's landslide margins in the Seattle–Tacoma metro. Romney's biggest prize was Spokane County, which gave him over 115,000 votes and a 5.81% margin of victory. He also won Yakima County. However, he was able to flip four counties that Obama won in 2008: Klickitat, Skamania, Wahkhiakum, and Whitman. Obama thus became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying Skamania or Wahkiakum Counties since Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and the first to do so without carrying Klickitat County since John F. Kennedy in 1960.

This election continued Clallam County's bellwether streak, marking the 9th election since 1980 that it voted for the winner of the nationwide election. Clallam's streak would eventually become the longest of any county in 2020. Washington weighed in as 11.01% more Democratic than the national average in 2012. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last presidential election in which the Republican nominee won Whitman County and the Democratic nominee won Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Mason, and Pacific Counties. This is also the last time a Republican received more than 40% of the vote in Washington.

Notes

References

Secretary of State: Kim Wyman. "November 6, 2012 General Election Results".
Reed, Sam. (November 6, 2012). "President/Vice President". [[Secretary of State of Washington]].
"November 3, 2020 General Election Results – President/Vice President". [[Washington Secretary of State]].
Cohen, Micah. (September 25, 2012). "Washington State, Women's Rights and Big Cities".
"Washington Democratic Delegation 2012".
Grygiel, Chris. (September 27, 2011). "Washington state GOP to hold presidential caucus March 3". [[Hearst Corporation]].
(March 3, 2012). "GOP candidates vie for delegates in Washington, feet planted in Ohio". [[Fox News]].
"Elections & Voting". Washington Secretary of State – Elections Division.
[http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/WA-R Washington Republican – ''The Green Papers'']
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[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/washington/election_2012_washington_president Rasmussen Reports]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20161219192135/http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=174304991&fPath=%2Fnews%2Flocal&fDomain=10212 SurveyUSA]
[http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=946e7c4e-8d37-4db4-84e1-12bd6ae5ec08 SurveyUSA]
[https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2012/Gravis_WA_0927.pdf Gravis Marketing]
[http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2012/09/14/new-poll-obama-pulling-way-ahead-in-washington-state/ Elway]
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[https://web.archive.org/web/20121012072541/http://www.king5.com/news/politics/KING-5-poll-Obama-still-has-comfortable-lead-in-Washington-state-169202956.html KING5NEWS/SurveyUSA]
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Reed, Sam. (November 6, 2012). "President/Vice President - County Results". [[Secretary of State of Washington]].
"2012 General Data".
(February 29, 2016). "Most and least religious U.S. states".
Savicki, Drew. (June 1, 2020). "The Road to 270: Washington".
"State Population Totals: 2010–2019".
"County Population Totals: 2010–2019".
Farley, Josh. (November 7, 2020). "What does Clallam County know? Voters just chose a winner for the tenth straight election".

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