2012 United States presidential election in Nevada explained

See main article: article and 2012 United States presidential election.

Election Name:2012 United States presidential election in Nevada
Country:Nevada
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2008 United States presidential election in Nevada
Previous Year:2008
Next Election:2016 United States presidential election in Nevada
Next Year:2016
Election Date:November 6, 2012
Image1:President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop.jpg
Nominee1:Barack Obama
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:Illinois
Running Mate1:Joe Biden
Electoral Vote1:6
Popular Vote1:531,373
Percentage1:52.36%
Nominee2:Mitt Romney
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Massachusetts
Running Mate2:Paul Ryan
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:463,567
Percentage2:45.68%
Map Size:275px
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 Nevada 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 six 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.

Nevada was won by President Barack Obama with 52.36% of the vote to Mitt Romney's 45.68%, a 6.68% margin of victory.[1] In 2008, Obama won the state by 12.50%. Nevada has voted for the winner in every presidential election from 1912 onwards, except in 1976 when it voted for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter and in 2016 when it voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Carson City, which voted for Obama in 2008, flipped to supporting the Republican Party this election cycle. Despite only winning two counties (Clark and Washoe), these counties consist of over 87% of Nevada's population and are home to Las Vegas and Reno, the largest and third largest cities in the state, thus allowing Obama to win by a comfortable margin.[2]

Caucuses

Democratic caucuses

Incumbent president Barack Obama was not challenged for the Democratic candidacy, so no Democratic caucuses were held.

Republican caucuses

See main article: Republican Party presidential primaries.

Election Name:2012 Nevada Republican caucuses
Country:Nevada
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2008 Nevada Republican caucuses
Previous Year:2008
Next Election:2016 Nevada Republican caucuses
Next Year:2016
Outgoing Members:FL
Elected Members:CO
Image1:Mitt_Romney_by_Gage_Skidmore_6_cropped.jpg
Candidate1:Mitt Romney
Home State1:Massachusetts
Delegate Count1:20
Popular Vote1:16,486
Percentage1:50.02%
Map Size:220px
Image4:Newt Gingrich by Gage Skidmore 3 (cropped).jpg
Candidate4:Newt Gingrich
Home State4:Georgia
Delegate Count4:0
Popular Vote4:6,956
Percentage4:21.10%
Candidate2:Ron Paul
Home State2:Texas
Delegate Count2:8
Popular Vote2:6,175
Percentage2:18.73%
Image5:Rick Santorum by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Candidate5:Rick Santorum
Home State5:Pennsylvania
Delegate Count5:0
Popular Vote5:3,277
Percentage5:9.94%
Color1:ff6600
Color4:800080
Color2:ffcc00
Color5:008000

The Republican caucuses were held on February 4,[3] and they are closed caucuses.[4] Mitt Romney was declared the winner.[5]

There are 400,310 registered Republicans voting for 28 delegates.[6] [7]

Date

The 2012 Nevada Republican caucuses were originally scheduled to begin on February 18, 2012,[8] much later than the date in 2008, which almost immediately followed the beginning of the year in January 2008.[9] On September 29, 2011, the entire schedule of caucuses and primaries was disrupted, however, when it was announced that the Republican Party of Florida had decided to move up its primary to January 31, in an attempt to bring attention to its own primary contest, and attract the presidential candidates to visit the state.[10] Because of the move, the Republican National Committee decided to strip Florida of half of its delegates.[11] Also as a result, the Nevada Republican Party, along with Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, then sought to move their caucuses back into early January. All but Nevada, who agreed to follow Florida,[12] confirmed their caucus and primary dates to take place throughout January, with Nevada deciding to hold their contest on February 4, 2012.[13]

The caucuses for 1,835 precincts in 125 sites were scheduled: voting from 9 AM - 1 PM, ballots handling 9-10 AM and to conclude by 3 PM at the latest on February 4, with results for almost all counties to be announced by the party at 5 PM.

Clark County

For Clark County, a special caucus was held at the Adelson Educational Campus at 7 PM, intended to accommodate those who observe Saturday Sabbath.[14] According to Philip Kantor, an Orthodox Jew, the goal of the after-work caucus was to prevent electoral fraud "It has everything to do with not being deprived of a vote, being disenfranchised".[15] This late caucus allowed a timely vote for Seventh-day Adventists, Orthodox Jews and other who don't vote until Sabbath is over.[16] Adelson campus caucus attendees were required to sign affidavits stating that they had not already cast their ballot in an earlier caucus, that day. There was only one nationwide televised (by CNN) public vote-count.[17] That Adelson caucus count provided the following Candidate vote results: Ron Paul 183, Mitt Romney 61, Newt Gingrich 57, and Rick Santorum 16 votes.[18] The results of this special caucus were announced Feb 4.[19] Paul got second place in Clark County, but Gingrich was ahead of Paul by a larger margin in the rest of the state and therefore ended up beating Paul statewide for second place.[20]

Results

Turnout was 8.23%. 1,800 of 1,800 precincts (100%) reporting.[21]
The voting-eligible population (400,310 registered Nevada Republicans).
125 caucus sites.

Delegates were awarded to candidates who got 3.57% or more of the vote proportionally

Nevada Republican caucuses, February 4, 2012[22]
CandidateVotesPercentageProjected delegate countActual Delegates
[23] [24]
AP
[25]
CNN
[26]
MSNBC
[27]
Mitt Romney16,48650.02%14141420
Newt Gingrich6,95621.10%6660
Ron Paul6,17518.73%5558
Rick Santorum3,2779.94%3330
No Vote670.20%0000
Unprojected delegates:0000
Total:32,961100%28282828
This final result was announced by Twitter and the Nevada Republican Party on Monday February 6, at 01:01 am PST (local time).[28] The actual Republican National Convention delegates from Nevada are mostly Ron Paul supporters (22 of 28), which were elected by state convention on May 6. The Nevada Republican Party's rules state that most elected delegates to the RNC are still bound to vote for Romney (in the first round of voting), because of Romney's statewide caucuses winning.
Nevada State Convention Delegates May 6, 2012
CandidateSupporters for this candidate who are Delegates from NV to the RNC [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34]
Ron Paul22
Mitt Romney6
Totals:28

Controversy

Allegations of voter fraud have arisen due to a recount of Clark County ballots despite there being no official contest from any of the campaigns. One reason given by the GOP was that there were more ballots cast than people "signed in" at some precincts.[35]

General election

Candidate ballot access

Polling

Throughout the race, Barack Obama tied or won every single pre-election poll except one. The final poll showed Obama leading 51% to 47%, while the average of the last 3 polls showed Obama leading Romney 50% to 47%.[36]

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Nevada[37]
PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
DemocraticBarack Obama (incumbent)Joe Biden (incumbent)531,37352.36%6
RepublicanMitt RomneyPaul Ryan463,56745.68%0
LibertarianJim Gray10,9681.08%0
Other/None5,7700.57%0
ConstitutionVirgil GoodeJim Clymer3,2400.32%0
Total1,014,918100%

By county

CountyBarack Obama
Democratic
Mitt Romney
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
MarginTotal votes cast
%%%%
Carson City10,29144.13%12,39453.15%6342.72%-2,103-9.02%23,319
Churchill2,96128.85%7,06168.79%2432.36%-4,100-39.94%10,265
Clark389,93656.42%289,05341.82%12,2011.76%100,88314.60%691,190
Douglas9,29735.65%16,27662.42%5021.93%-6,979-26.77%26,075
Elko3,51121.96%12,01475.15%4612.89%-8,503-53.19%15,986
Esmeralda9221.15%31772.87%265.98%-225-51.72%435
Eureka10713.24%66382.05%384.71%-556-68.81%808
Humboldt1,73730.24%3,81066.33%1973.43%-2,073-36.09%5,744
Lander53424.67%1,58072.98%512.35%-1,046-48.31%2,165
Lincoln40018.59%1,69178.58%612.83%-1,291-59.99%2,152
Lyon7,38034.38%13,52062.99%5652.63%-6,140-28.61%21,465
Mineral86342.41%1,08053.07%924.52%-217-10.66%2,035
Nye6,32036.07%10,56660.30%6363.63%-4,246-24.23%17,522
Pershing63233.55%1,16761.94%854.51%-535-28.39%1,884
Storey92039.76%1,32157.09%733.15%-401-17.33%2,314
Washoe95,40950.79%88,45347.09%3,9932.12%6,9563.70%187,855
White Pine98326.54%2,60170.22%1203.24%-1,618-43.68%3,704
Totals531,37352.36%463,56745.68%19,9781.97%67,8066.68%1,014,918

Counties and independent cities that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Results by congressional districts

Obama won 3 of 4 congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.[38]

DistrictObamaRomneyRepresentative
65.64%32.4%Dina Titus
44.82%52.88%Mark Amodei
49.53%48.73%
54.43%43.71%Steven Horsford

Analysis

Nevada has historically been a swing state. It has voted for the winner of every presidential election since 1912, except for 1976 and 2016. From 1992 to 2004, the margin of victory was always under five points. In 2008, however, the state swung over dramatically to support Obama, who carried it by 12.49%.

In 2012, Obama held onto Nevada, though by a narrower margin of 6.68%. This was due almost entirely to Obama carrying the state's two largest counties–Clark County, home to Las Vegas and Henderson, and Washoe County, home to Reno. These two counties account for 85% of Nevada's population. Romney dominated the state's rural counties, which have supported Republicans for decades. However, the only large jurisdiction he carried was the independent city of Carson City.

As in 2008, Obama owed his victory in part to the state's Hispanic voters breaking heavily for him. According to exit polls, Hispanics made up 19% of the electorate and voted for Obama by almost three-to-one.[39]

See also

External links

for Nevada

Major state elections in chronological order

Notes and References

  1. Web site: US Presidential Race. nvsos.gov. 6 March 2023.
  2. Web site: Census.gov. 2020-09-02. Census.gov. EN-US.
  3. News: Nevada Caucus Date: Nevada Moves Date To Feb. 4 . Huffington Post . 2011-11-04 . 2011-10-22 . Peoples . Steve.
  4. Web site: Nevada Republican Delegation 2012. www.thegreenpapers.com.
  5. News: Mitt Romney cruises to victory in Nevada caucuses . Los Angeles Times . Mark Z. . Barabak . February 4, 2012.
  6. Web site: Voter Registration Statistics: Active Voters by County and Party . Nevada Secretary of State . January 2012 . February 2, 2012.
  7. http://www.nvsos.gov/index.aspx?page=1064 Active Voters by Party and Age
  8. Web site: Nevada to Hold Presidential Caucus on February 18, 2012. Nevada Republican Party . 2010-12-16 . 2011-11-04 . Adair . Cory.
  9. News: Nevada Primary Results . The New York Times . 2011-11-04.
  10. Web site: Florida Moves its Primary . Outside the Beltway . 2011-11-03 . 2011-09-29 . Taylor . Steven.
  11. News: GOP chairman: Florida will be penalized, and 2012 race is now set . Des Moines Register . 2011-11-03 . 2011-10-25 . Jacobs . Jennifer.
  12. Web site: Nevada Republicans cave, move caucuses to Feb. 4 . Daily Kos . 2011-11-03 . 2011-10-24 . Nir . David.
  13. News: Nevada moves caucus to Feb. 4 after backlash . USA Today . 2011-11-04 . 2011-10-22 . Associated Press.
  14. Molly Ball (27 January 2012), "In Nevada, Sheldon Adelson Gets His Very Own Caucus" The Atlantic.
  15. http://www.lvrj.com/news/adelson-had-no-involvement-in-special-7-p-m-gop-caucus-138366304.html Las Vegas Review Journal
  16. News: Steinhauser. Paul. Will Nevada Give Romney A Second Straight Victory? . February 8, 2012. CNN (via wesh.com). February 4, 2012.
  17. Web site: Byers . Dylan . 10 February 2012 . On television, CNN wins the election . 4 June 2024 . Politico.
  18. Web site: 2012-02-05 . Troubles abound at special Las Vegas caucus Jefferson City News-Tribune . 2024-06-04 . www.newstribune.com . en.
  19. Web site: 2012-02-06 . Nevada's Night 'Jewish Caucus' Won by Paul . 2024-06-04 . The Forward . en.
  20. Web site: 4 February 2012 . Another Win: Romney Adds Nevada To His Victories . 4 June 2024 . NPR.
  21. Web site: NVGOP Caucus Results Certified . Nevada Republican Party . February 22, 2012 .
  22. Web site: AP Results via Google . February 6, 2012.
  23. AJC, "Web site: Ron Paul Wins Maine Jamie Dupree Washington Insider . May 7, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120508125240/http://blogs.ajc.com/jamie-dupree-washington-insider/2012/05/06/ron-paul-wins-maine/ . May 8, 2012 . " (May 6, 2012). AJC.
  24. Portland Press Herald, "http://www.pressherald.com/news/Delegate-fight-Snowe-LePage-today-at-convention.html" (May 7, 2012). Portland Press Herald.
  25. USA Today, "https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/primaries/nevada" (February 4, 2012). USA Today.
  26. CNN, "Republican Caucuses" (February 4, 2012). CNN.
  27. MSNBC, "MSNBC Republican Caucuses " (February 4, 2012). MSNBC.
  28. NVVoteCount. 166446518109356032. @NVVoteCount NV Caucus Results B 00 TOTAL 32963 IN 1800 OF 1800 GIN 6956 PAU 6175 ROM 16486 SAN 3277 NOV 69 (1/1).
  29. "Ron Paul supporters capture majority of Nevada’s national delegates" accessdate=May 8, 2012. LasVegasSun.
  30. "Ron Paul’s stealth state convention takeover" accessdate=May 8, 2012. Washington Post.
  31. "Ron Paul wins big in Maine and Nevada" accessdate=May 8, 2012. ChristianScienceMonitor.
  32. "Ron Paul's Maine, Nevada, and Iowa Victories (Despite Romney Dirty Tricks) accessdate=May 8, 2012. reason.com"
  33. "Libertarians Find Their Audience In 2012 Race" accessdate=May 8, 2012. npr.
  34. "Ron Paul at Nevada State Convention 2012 " accessdate=May 8, 2012. Video of NV convention Speech.
  35. News: WLong lines, complaints of election fraud plague special Las Vegas caucus for religious voters . https://web.archive.org/web/20120209065349/http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/long-lines-complaints-of-election-fraud-plague-special-las-vegas-caucus-for-religious-voters/2012/02/05/gIQALuokqQ_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop . 9 February 2012 . The Washington Post . 5 February 2012. 5 February 2012 . dead.
  36. Web site: RealClearPolitics - Election 2012 - Nevada: Romney vs. Obama. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110504085659/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/nv/nevada_romney_vs_obama-1908.html. 2011-05-04.
  37. Web site: Nevada Secretary of State. 2012-11-10. 2012-11-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20121109224858/http://www.silverstateelection.com/USPresidential/index.shtml. dead.
  38. Web site: Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts. Daily Kos. 11 August 2020.
  39. News: Nevada Presidential Race. CNN.