2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota explained

See main article: 2012 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota
Country:	North Dakota
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2008 United States presidential election in North Dakota
Previous Year:	2008
Election Date:	November 6, 2012
Next Election:	2016 United States presidential election in North Dakota
Next Year:	2016
Image1:	Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore 6 cropped.jpg
Nominee1:	Mitt Romney
Party1:	North Dakota Republican Party
Home State1:	Massachusetts
Running Mate1:	Paul Ryan
Electoral Vote1:	3
Popular Vote1:	188,163
Percentage1:	58.32%
Nominee2:	Barack Obama
Party2:	North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party
Home State2:	Illinois
Running Mate2:	Joe Biden
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	124,827
Percentage2:	38.69%
Map Size:	300px
President
Before Election:	Barack Obama
Before Party:	Democratic-NPL
After Election:	Barack Obama
After Party:	Democratic-NPL

The 2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota 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. North Dakota 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.

Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Mitt Romney handily won the state with 58.32% of the vote to Barack Obama's 38.69%, a 19.63% margin of victory. He flipped seven counties that were carried by Obama in 2008, including Cass County, home to Fargo, the state's largest city.

Obama was the first Democrat since 1912 to win without Mountrail County. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time a Democrat won Benson, Ransom, Sargent, and Steele counties.

Caucuses

Republican caucuses

See main article: article and 2012 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses. The 2012 North Dakota Republican caucuses were held on March 6, 2012.^[1] North Dakota has 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention;^[2] despite Rick Santorum's nominal win in the preference poll conducted during the caucuses, the majority of the delegates elected by the state party convention later in March said they supported Romney.^[3]

2012 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses^[4]
Candidate		Votes	Percentage	Delegates
	Rick Santorum	4,510	39.7%	6
	Ron Paul	3,186	28.1%	2
	Mitt Romney	2,691	23.7%	20
	Newt Gingrich	962	8.5%	0
Unprojected delegates				0
Totals		11,349	100.0%	28

Convention controversy

The North Dakota Republican Party held its state convention from Friday, March 30 to Sunday, April 1, where twenty-five unbound National Convention delegates were elected. Rick Santorum had won the straw poll at the Legislative Districts caucuses on Super Tuesday with a large margin to Ron Paul in second place and Mitt Romney in third place. The party leadership's recommended slate of delegates was to reflect this straw poll result. However, the slate gave Romney a large majority of the delegates. Former NDGOP Chairman Gary Emineth called the vote undemocratic and a railroad job.^[5]

General election

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Barack Obama (D)	Mitt Romney (R)	Other	Undecided
Mason-Dixon^[6]	October 26–28	625	± 4.0%	40%	align="center"	54%	3%	3%
Forum/Essman^[7]	October 12–15	500	± 4.3%	32%	align="center"	57%	-	11%
Rasmussen Reports^[8]	October 17–18	600	± 4.0%	40%	align="center"	54%	2%	4%
Mason-Dixon^[9]	October 3–5	625	± 4.0%	40%	align="center"	54%	1%	5%
Rasmussen Reports	July 10–11, 2012	400	± - 5%	36%	align="center"	51%	6%	7%
Mason-Dixon^[10]	June 4–12	625	± 4.0%	39%	align="center"	52%	–	–

^‡Likely primary voters

Predictions

The following are final 2012 predictions from various organizations for North Dakota as of Election Day.

Source	Ranking	As of
Huffington Post^[11]		November 6, 2012
CNN^[12]		November 6, 2012
align=left	New York Times^[13]		November 6, 2012
Washington Post^[14]		November 6, 2012
Freedom's Light House^[15]		November 6, 2012
RealClearPolitics^[16]		November 6, 2012

Results

2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota^[17]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	188,163	58.32%	3
	Democratic-NPL	Barack Obama (incumbent)	Joe Biden (incumbent)	124,827	38.69%	0
	Libertarian		Jim Gray	5,238	1.62%	0
	Other			1,860	0.58%	0
	Green		Cheri Honkala	1,362	0.42%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	1,186	0.37%	0
Totals				322,932	100.00%	3

By county

County	Mitt Romney Republican		Barack Obama Democratic-NPL		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total
		%		%		%		%
	Adams		918		71.38%		328		25.51%		40		3.11%		590		45.87%		1,286
	Barnes		2,964		53.68%		2,394		43.35%		164		2.97%		570		10.33%		5,522
	Benson		868		40.24%		1,235		57.26%		54		2.50%		-367		-17.02%		2,157
	Billings		472		81.66%		89		15.40%		89		2.94%		383		66.26%		578
	Bottineau		2,280		64.14%		1,183		33.28%		92		2.58%		1,097		30.86%		3,555
	Bowman		1,280		73.69%		414		23.83%		43		2.48%		866		49.86%		1,737
	Burke		769		75.17%		230		22.48%		24		2.35%		539		52.69%		1,023
	Burleigh		27,951		64.42%		14,122		32.55%		1,314		3.03%		13,829		31.87%		43,387
	Cass		36,855		49.90%		34,712		47.00%		2,288		3.10%		2,143		2.90%		73,855
	Cavalier		1,195		57.76%		818		39.54%		56		2.70%		377		18.22%		2,069
	Dickey		1,610		63.51%		853		33.65%		72		2.84%		757		29.86%		2,535
	Divide		733		63.08%		385		33.13%		44		3.79%		348		29.95%		1,162
	Dunn		1,506		74.04%		508		24.98%		20		0.98%		998		49.06%		2,034
	Eddy		634		54.80%		486		42.01%		37		3.19%		148		12.79%		1,157
	Emmons		1,435		76.17%		383		20.33%		66		3.50%		1,052		55.84%		1,884
	Foster		1,030		61.24%		607		36.09%		45		2.67%		423		25.15%		1,682
	Golden Valley		742		79.96%		162		17.46%		24		2.58%		580		62.50%		928
	Grand Forks		15,060		50.15%		14,032		46.73%		937		3.12%		1,028		3.42%		30,029
	Grant		1,025		72.54%		334		23.64%		54		3.82%		691		48.90%		1,413
	Griggs		771		57.41%		536		39.91%		36		2.68%		235		17.50%		1,343
	Hettinger		1,000		73.42%		313		22.98%		49		3.60%		687		50.44%		1,362
	Kidder		870		65.51%		393		29.59%		65		4.90%		477		35.92%		1,328
	LaMoure		1,377		62.76%		740		33.73%		77		3.51%		637		29.03%		2,194
	Logan		810		75.49%		232		21.62%		31		2.89%		578		53.87%		1,073
	McHenry		1,678		61.87%		943		34.77%		91		3.36%		735		27.10%		2,712
	McIntosh		1,035		67.65%		459		30.00%		36		2.35%		576		37.65%		1,530
	McKenzie		2,458		71.23%		927		26.86%		66		1.91%		1,531		44.37%		3,451
	McLean		3,141		63.61%		1,670		33.82%		127		2.57%		1,471		29.79%		4,938
	Mercer		3,152		70.75%		1,166		26.17%		137		3.08%		1,986		44.58%		4,455
	Morton		8,680		63.76%		4,469		32.83%		464		3.41%		4,211		30.93%		13,613
	Mountrail		1,962		56.75%		1,403		40.58%		92		2.67%		559		16.17%		3,457
	Nelson		865		51.55%		767		45.71%		46		2.74%		98		5.84%		1,678
	Oliver		693		68.41%		281		27.74%		39		3.85%		412		40.67%		1,013
	Pembina		1,899		58.34%		1,253		38.49%		103		3.17%		646		19.85%		3,255
	Pierce		1,465		67.26%		660		30.30%		53		2.44%		805		36.96%		2,178
	Ramsey		2,665		53.31%		2,164		43.29%		170		3.40%		501		10.02%		4,999
	Ransom		1,009		41.61%		1,343		55.38%		73		3.01%		-334		-13.77%		2,425
	Renville		851		66.59%		398		31.14%		29		2.27%		453		35.45%		1,278
	Richland		4,229		55.55%		3,198		42.01%		186		2.44%		1,031		13.54%		7,613
	Rolette		1,092		23.99%		3,353		73.66%		107		2.35%		-2,261		-49.67%		4,552
	Sargent		879		43.80%		1,075		53.56%		53		2.64%		-196		-9.76%		2,007
	Sheridan		642		78.10%		163		19.83%		17		2.07%		479		58.27%		822
	Sioux		225		19.67%		900		78.67%		19		1.66%		-675		-59.00%		1,144
	Slope		341		78.03%		83		18.99%		13		2.98%		258		59.04%		437
	Stark		8,521		73.25%		2,812		24.17%		300		2.58%		5,709		49.08%		11,633
	Steele		498		47.79%		518		49.71%		26		2.50%		-20		-1.92%		1,042
	Stutsman		5,685		59.48%		3,585		37.51%		288		3.01%		2,100		21.97%		9,558
	Towner		623		52.71%		516		43.65%		43		3.64%		107		9.06%		1,182
	Traill		1,996		50.91%		1,811		46.19%		114		2.90%		185		4.72%		3,921
	Walsh		2,656		55.44%		1,985		41.43%		150		3.13%		671		14.01%		4,791
	Ward		16,230		63.74%		8,441		33.15%		792		3.11%		7,789		30.59%		25,463
	Wells		1,654		69.53%		673		28.29%		52		2.18%		981		41.24%		2,379
	Williams		7,184		73.25%		2,322		23.67%		302		3.08%		4,862		49.58%		9,808
Totals	188,163	58.32%	124,827	38.69%	9,637	2.99%	63,336	19.63%	322,627

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Cass (largest city: Fargo)
• Eddy (largest city: New Rockford)
• Grand Forks (largest city: Grand Forks)
• Mountrail (largest city: Stanley)
• Nelson (largest city: Lakota)
• Towner (largest city: Cando)
• Traill (largest city: Mayville)

By congressional district

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

See also

• United States presidential elections in North Dakota
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• North Dakota Republican Party

External links

• North Dakota GOP website
• North Dakota Republican State Committee Rules and Modes of Procedure
• The Green Papers

for North Dakota

• The Green Papers

Major state elections in chronological order

Notes and References

1. Web site: North Dakota Republican Delegation 2012. 2012-04-08. The Green Papers.
2. News: Nate Silver. Nate Silver. March 4, 2012. Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates. FiveThirtyEight. March 5, 2012.
3. http://wtop.com/?nid=278&sid=2817738 Santorum delegate plan hits wall in North Dakota
4. Web site: Live Caucus Results. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120306200148/http://www.northdakotagop.org/caucus/. 2012-03-06. 2012-03-07. NDGOP Presidential Caucus Information.
5. Web site: RealClearPolitics - Politics - Mar 31, 2012 - Unrest over ND GOP national convention delegates . 2024-06-04 . www.realclearpolitics.com.
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20121103023432/http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/19945942/valley-news-live-mason-dixon-poll Mason-Dixon
7. https://archive.today/20130201023057/http://race42012.com/2012/10/23/poll-watch-forum-communications-north-dakota-2012-presidential-survey/ Forum/Essman
8. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2012/election_2012_presidential_election/north_dakota/election_2012_north_dakota_president Rasmussen Reports
9. https://web.archive.org/web/20121011025651/http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/19767078/poll Mason-Dixon
10. https://web.archive.org/web/20120722174015/http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=57558 Mason-Dixon
11. News: Huffington Post Election Dashboard. Huffington Post.
12. News: CNN Electoral Map. CNN.
13. News: The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory. The New York Times.
14. News: 2012 Presidential Election Results. The Washington Post.
15. Web site: 2012 Presidential Election Electoral Vote Maps and Polls – Freedom's Lighthouse.
16. Web site: RealClearPolitics - 2012 Election Maps - Battle for White House. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110608112207/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html. 2011-06-08.
17. Web site: North Dakota Secretary of State . 2012-11-11 .