2012 United States presidential election in Washington (state) explained

See main article: 2012 United States presidential election.

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%^[1]
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:	55.80%
Nominee2:	Mitt Romney
Party2:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:	Massachusetts
Running Mate2:	Paul Ryan
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	1,290,670
Percentage2:	41.03%
Map Size:	350px
President
Before Election:	Barack Obama
Before Party:	Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:	Barack Obama
After Party:	Democratic Party (United States)

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 55.80% of the vote to Mitt Romney's 41.03%, a 14.77% margin of victory.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

Republican caucuses

See main article: 2012 Washington Republican presidential caucuses.

The Republican caucuses were held on March 3, 2012.^[6] The additional preferential primary, as held since 1992, was canceled this year for budgetary reasons, as was the one in 2004.^[7] 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,^[8] the turnout was 1.4%.^[9] 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.

Washington state Republican caucuses nonbinding strawpoll

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^[10] ^[11] ^[12]
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

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	Democrat	%	Republican	%	Lead margin	Sample Size	Margin of error
YouGov^[13]	October 31 – November 3, 2012		Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	40%	14	837 LV	±--%
Public Policy Polling^[14]	November 1–3, 2012		Barack Obama	53%	Mitt Romney	46%	7	932 LV	±3.2%
Survey USA^[15]	October 28–31, 2012		Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	40%	14	555 LV	±4.2%
University of Washington^[16]	October 18–31, 2012		Barack Obama	57%	Mitt Romney	36%	21	632 LV	±3.9%
Strategies 360^[17]	October 17–20, 2012		Barack Obama	52%	Mitt Romney	39%	13	500 LV	±4.4%
Public Policy Polling^[18]	October 15–16, 2012		Barack Obama	50%	Mitt Romney	45%	5	574 LV	±--%
The Washington Poll^[19]	October 1–16, 2012		Barack Obama	52%	Mitt Romney	41%	11	782 LV	±3.5%
Rasmussen Reports^[20]	October 14, 2012		Barack Obama	55%	Mitt Romney	42%	13	500 LV	±4.5%
SurveyUSA^[21]	October 12–14, 2012		Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	40%	14	543 LV	±4.3%
SurveyUSA^[22]	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^[23]	September 21–22, 2012		Barack Obama	56%	Mitt Romney	39%	17	625 RV	±4.6%
Elway^[24]	September 9–12, 2012		Barack Obama	53%	Mitt Romney	36%	17	405 RV	±5.0%
Public Policy Polling^[25]	September 7–9, 2012		Barack Obama	53%	Mitt Romney	42%	11	563	±n/a%
KING5NEWS/SurveyUSA^[26]	September 7–9, 2012		Barack Obama	54%	Mitt Romney	38%	16	700	±4.4%

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

2012 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama (incumbent)	Joe Biden (incumbent)	1,755,396	56.16%	12
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,290,670	41.29%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	42,202	1.35%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	20,928	0.67%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	8,851	0.28%	0
	Justice	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	4,946	0.16%	0
	Socialism and Liberation	Peta Lindsay	Yari Osorio	1,318	0.04%	0
	Socialist Workers	James Harris	Alyson Kennedy	1,205	0.04%	0
Totals				3,125,516	100.00%	12

Results by county

County	Barack Obama Democratic		Mitt Romney Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total
		%		%		%		%
	Adams		1,540		31.94%		3,171		65.76%		111		2.30%		-1,631		-33.82%		4,822
	Asotin		4,003		40.14%		5,654		56.70%		315		3.16%		-1,651		-16.56%		9,972
	Benton		28,145		35.09%		49,461		61.66%		2,611		3.25%		-21,316		-26.57%		80,217
	Chelan		13,112		40.36%		18,402		56.64%		974		3.00%		-5,290		-16.28%		32,488
	Clallam		18,580		48.40%		18,437		48.03%		1,368		3.57%		143		0.37%		38,385
	Clark		93,382		48.59%		92,951		48.37%		5,843		3.04%		431		0.22%		192,176
	Columbia		645		28.29%		1,568		68.77%		67		2.94%		-923		-40.48%		2,280
	Cowlitz		22,726		50.49%		20,746		46.09%		1,540		3.42%		1,980		4.40%		45,012
	Douglas		5,166		34.30%		9,425		62.58%		469		3.12%		-4,259		-28.28%		15,060
	Ferry		1,294		37.10%		1,995		57.20%		199		5.70%		-701		-20.10%		3,488
	Franklin		8,398		36.89%		13,748		60.39%		618		2.72%		-5,350		-23.50%		22,764
	Garfield		336		26.23%		913		71.27%		32		2.50%		-577		-45.04%		1,281
	Grant		8,950		32.16%		17,852		64.15%		1,027		3.69%		-8,902		-31.99%		27,829
	Grays Harbor		15,960		55.14%		11,914		41.16%		1,073		3.70%		4,046		13.98%		28,947
	Island		21,478		50.69%		19,605		46.27%		1,289		3.04%		1,873		4.42%		42,372
	Jefferson		12,739		63.82%		6,405		32.09%		817		4.09%		6,334		31.73%		19,961
	King		668,004		68.72%		275,700		28.36%		28,317		2.92%		392,304		40.36%		972,021
	Kitsap		67,277		54.21%		52,846		42.58%		3,978		3.21%		14,431		11.63%		124,101
	Kittitas		7,949		43.45%		9,782		53.47%		562		3.08%		-1,833		-10.02%		18,293
	Klickitat		4,598		44.25%		5,316		51.16%		477		4.59%		-718		-6.91%		10,391
	Lewis		12,664		36.90%		20,452		59.59%		1,204		3.51%		-7,788		-22.69%		34,320
	Lincoln		1,673		28.30%		4,063		68.74%		175		2.96%		-2,390		-40.44%		5,911
	Mason		14,764		51.82%		12,761		44.79%		964		3.39%		2,003		7.03%		28,489
	Okanogan		7,108		41.80%		9,221		54.23%		674		3.97%		-2,113		-12.43%		17,003
	Pacific		5,711		53.69%		4,499		42.30%		426		4.01%		1,212		11.39%		10,636
	Pend Oreille		2,508		37.16%		3,952		58.56%		289		4.28%		-1,444		-21.40%		6,749
	Pierce		186,430		54.05%		148,467		43.04%		10,035		2.91%		37,963		11.01%		344,932
	San Juan		7,125		66.64%		3,111		29.10%		456		4.26%		4,014		37.54%		10,692
	Skagit		28,688		51.51%		25,071		45.01%		1,938		3.48%		3,617		6.50%		55,697
	Skamania		2,628		47.51%		2,687		48.57%		217		3.92%		-59		-1.06%		5,532
	Snohomish		188,516		56.79%		133,016		40.07%		10,436		3.14%		55,500		16.72%		331,968
	Spokane		102,295		45.31%		115,285		51.07%		8,174		3.62%		-12,990		-5.76%		225,754
	Stevens		7,762		34.50%		13,691		60.85%		1,047		4.65%		-5,929		-26.35%		22,500
	Thurston		74,037		57.96%		49,287		38.58%		4,416		3.46%		24,750		21.18%		127,740
	Wahkiakum		1,094		47.30%		1,119		48.38%		100		4.32%		-25		-1.08%		2,313
	Walla Walla		9,768		38.61%		14,648		57.90%		882		3.49%		-4,880		-19.29%		25,298
	Whatcom		57,089		55.01%		42,703		41.14%		3,996		3.85%		14,386		13.87%		103,788
	Whitman		8,037		46.54%		8,507		49.26%		726		4.20%		-470		-2.72%		17,270
	Yakima		33,217		42.86%		42,239		54.50%		2,050		2.64%		-9,022		-11.64%		77,506
Totals	1,755,396	55.80%	1,290,670	41.03%	99,892	3.18%	464,726	14.77%	3,145,958

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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

Results by congressional district

President Obama won 7 of 10 congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.

District	Barack ObamaDemocratic	Mitt RomneyRepublican	Other	Representative
	54.1%	43.3%	2.6%		Jay Inslee (111th Congress)
					Suzan DelBene (112th Congress)
		59.2%	38.0%	2.8%		Rick Larsen
		47.9%	49.6%	2.5%		Jaime Herrera Beutler
		37.9%	59.7%	2.4%		Doc Hastings
		43.7%	53.5%	2.8%		Cathy McMorris Rodgers
	56.1%	41.2%	2.7%		Norm Dicks (111th Congress)
					Derek Kilmer (112th Congress)
		79.2%	18.1%	2.7%		Jim McDermott
		49.7%	48.1%	2.2%		Dave Reichert
		68.3%	29.6%	2.1%		Adam Smith
	56.3%	41.1%	2.6%	district created
					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.^[27] 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.^[28] 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.^{[29] [30]} 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.^[31] Washington weighed in as 11.01% more Democratic than the national average in 2012. As of the 2020 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.

See also

• United States presidential elections in Washington (state)
• 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums

External links

• The Green Papers: for Washington
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order

Notes and References

1. Web site: November 6, 2012 General Election Results . Secretary of State: Kim Wyman . www.sos.wa.gov . May 25, 2020.
2. Web site: November 06, 2012 General Election Results: President/Vice President. December 5, 2020. www.wa.gov. Washington Secretary of State.
3. Web site: November 3, 2020 General Election Results – President/Vice President. December 5, 2020. www.wa.gov. Washington Secretary of State.
4. Web site: Cohen. Micah. September 25, 2012. Washington State, Women's Rights and Big Cities. December 5, 2020. FiveThirtyEight. en-US.
5. Web site: Washington Democratic Delegation 2012. December 5, 2020. The Green Papers.
6. News: Grygiel. Chris. September 27, 2011. Washington state GOP to hold presidential caucus March 3. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Hearst Corporation. January 10, 2011. 0745-970X. 3734418.
7. Web site: March 3, 2012. GOP candidates vie for delegates in Washington, feet planted in Ohio. March 3, 2012. Fox News.
8. Web site: Elections & Voting. March 4, 2012. Washington Secretary of State – Elections Division.
9. http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/WA-R Washington Republican – The Green Papers
10. Web site: Archived copy. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120610063704/http://www.tacoma2012.com/. June 10, 2012. July 19, 2012.
11. Web site: Washington Republican Delegation 2012.
12. 209025914649067520. FHQ. Includes the 3 automatic delegates.... June 2, 2012.
13. http://today.yougov.com/news/2012/11/04/washington-state/ YouGov
14. http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_WA_1103.pdf Public Policy Polling
15. https://web.archive.org/web/20121103093318/http://www.king5.com/news/politics/KING-5-Poll-Governors-race-a-dead-heat-176770651.html Survey USA
16. Web site: University of Washington . December 5, 2020 . November 4, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121104012915/http://www.washingtonpoll.org/results/kcts9wapoll_oct31.pdf . dead .
17. https://web.archive.org/web/20121026062843/http://www.strategies360.com/s360-releases-new-washington-state-poll.html Strategies 360
18. https://web.archive.org/web/20121018004731/http://wcvoters.org/files/public-policy-polling-oct-2012 Public Policy Polling
19. https://web.archive.org/web/20121025111411/http://www.washingtonpoll.org/results/kcts9wapoll_oct18.pdf The Washington Poll
20. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/washington/election_2012_washington_president Rasmussen Reports
21. https://web.archive.org/web/20161219192135/http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=174304991&fPath=%2Fnews%2Flocal&fDomain=10212 SurveyUSA
22. http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=946e7c4e-8d37-4db4-84e1-12bd6ae5ec08 SurveyUSA
23. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2012/Gravis_WA_0927.pdf Gravis Marketing
24. http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2012/09/14/new-poll-obama-pulling-way-ahead-in-washington-state/ Elway
25. https://www.scribd.com/doc/105748567/WA-Gov-PPP-for-LCV-Sept-2012 Public Policy Polling
26. 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
27. Web site: Lipka. Michael. Wormald. Benjamin. February 29, 2016. Most and least religious U.S. states. December 5, 2020. Pew Research Center. en-US.
28. Web site: Savicki. Drew. June 1, 2020. The Road to 270: Washington. December 5, 2020. 270toWin.
29. Web site: State Population Totals: 2010–2019. December 5, 2020. The United States Census Bureau. EN-US.
30. Web site: County Population Totals: 2010–2019. December 5, 2020. The United States Census Bureau. EN-US.
31. Web site: Farley. Josh. November 7, 2020. What does Clallam County know? Voters just chose a winner for the tenth straight election. December 5, 2020. Kitsap Sun. en-US.