See main article: 2012 United States presidential election.
| Election Name: | 2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island |
| Country: | Rhode Island |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2008 United States presidential election in Rhode Island |
| Previous Year: | 2008 |
| Next Election: | 2016 United States presidential election in Rhode Island |
| Next Year: | 2016 |
| Turnout: | 60.8%[1] 6.1 pp |
| Election Date: | November 6, 2012 |
| Image1: | President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop.jpg |
| Nominee1: | Barack Obama |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Home State1: | Illinois |
| Electoral Vote1: | 4 |
| Running Mate1: | Joe Biden |
| Popular Vote1: | 279,677 |
| Percentage1: | 62.70% |
| Nominee2: | Mitt Romney |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Home State2: | Massachusetts |
| Running Mate2: | Paul Ryan |
| Popular Vote2: | 157,204 |
| Electoral Vote2: | 0 |
| Percentage2: | 35.24% |
| 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 Rhode Island 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. Rhode Island voters chose four 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.
Also on the ballot were Libertarian nominee, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and his running mate, jurist Jim Gray. The left-wing Green Party nominated activist and physician Jill Stein and her running mate, anti-poverty advocate Cheri Honkala.
Rhode Island was won by Democratic nominee Obama by a 27.46% margin of victory. This was the seventh straight win for the Democratic Party in Rhode Island on the presidential level. It was also the seventh time in a row that the Democratic nominee for president won all 5 counties – a streak which would be broken when Donald Trump won Kent County in 2016[2] – and the sixth consecutive time that a Republican nominee failed to break 40% of the vote in Rhode Island. Rhode Island has been a safe Democratic state since 1988, and has only voted for a Republican nominee four times since 1928 (all of which in landslide elections). State politics are dominated by the Providence and Warwick metropolitan areas, and Providence County gave Obama his largest margin in the state at 34.92%. However, white working class voters in the inland and diverse, urban voters on the coast alike consistently vote Democratic, enough to provide the Democratic nominee with landslide margins in each election.[3]
To date, this is the last time that the towns of Burrillville, Coventry, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Hopkinton, Johnston, North Smithfield, and Smithfield voted Democratic, and the last time that the town of East Greenwich voted Republican.
The 2012 Rhode Island Democratic primary was held April 24, 2012. Rhode Island awarded 40 delegates proportionally.
No candidate ran against incumbent President Barack Obama in Rhode Island's Democratic presidential preference primary. Obama received 6,759 votes, or 83.38% of the vote, with 1,133 uncommitted votes (13.98%) and 214 write-in votes (2.64%)
At the Rhode Island Democratic state convention held on June 21, 2012, 35 delegates were awarded to Barack Obama, with 5 delegates remaining unannounced.[4]
| Rhode Island 2012 Democratic presidential primary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Awarded Delegates | ||
| Barack Obama (incumbent) | 6,759 | 83.38% | 35 | ||
| Uncommitted | 1,133 | 13.98% | |||
| Write-in | 214 | 2.64% | |||
| Unannounced | 5 | ||||
| Totals | 8,106 | 100.00% | 40 | ||
| Election Name: | 2012 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary |
| Country: | Rhode Island |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2008 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary |
| Previous Year: | 2008 |
| Next Election: | 2016 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary |
| Next Year: | 2016 |
| Image1: | Mitt_Romney_by_Gage_Skidmore_6_cropped.jpg |
| Candidate1: | Mitt Romney |
| Home State1: | Massachusetts |
| Delegate Count1: | 12 |
| Popular Vote1: | 9,157 |
| Percentage1: | 63.02% |
| Candidate2: | Ron Paul |
| Home State2: | Texas |
| Delegate Count2: | 4 |
| Popular Vote2: | 3,462 |
| Percentage2: | 23.85% |
| Image3: | Newt Gingrich by Gage Skidmore 3 (cropped).jpg |
| Candidate3: | Newt Gingrich |
| Home State3: | Georgia |
| Delegate Count3: | 0 |
| Popular Vote3: | 878 |
| Percentage3: | 6.04% |
| Map Size: | 230px |
| Color1: | ff6600 |
| Color2: | ffcc00 |
| Color3: | 800080 |
The 2012 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary took place on April 24, 2012.[5] Former Massachusetts Governor and frontrunner Mitt Romney received 63.02% of the vote, followed by U.S. Representative from Texas Ron Paul with 23.85% and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich with 6.04%. Former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum, who dropped out on April 10, received 5.66% of the vote.
| 2012 Rhode Island Republican presidential primary[6] [7] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Delegates | |
| Mitt Romney | 9,178 | 63.02% | 12 | |
| Ron Paul | 3,473 | 23.85% | 4 | |
| Newt Gingrich | 880 | 6.04% | 0 | |
| Rick Santorum | 825 | 5.66% | 0 | |
| Uncommitted | 131 | 0.90% | 3 | |
| Buddy Roemer | 40 | 0.27% | 0 | |
| Write-in | 37 | 0.25% | 0 | |
| Unprojected delegates: | 0 | |||
| Total: | 14,564 | 100% | 19 | |
| 2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island[8] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | ||
| Democratic | Barack Obama (incumbent) | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 279,677 | 62.70% | 4 | ||
| Republican | Mitt Romney | Paul Ryan | 157,204 | 35.24% | 0 | ||
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson | Jim Gray | 4,388 | 0.98% | 0 | ||
| Green | Jill Stein | Cheri Honkala | 2,421 | 0.54% | 0 | ||
| Others & write-in | 2,359 | 0.53% | 0 | ||||
| Totals | 446,049 | 100.00% | 4 | ||||
| Voter turnout | 60.79% | ||||||
| County | Barack Obama Democratic | Mitt Romney Republican | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total votes cast | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Bristol | 14,974 | 60.68% | 9,231 | 37.41% | 471 | 1.91% | 5,743 | 23.27% | 24,676 | ||||||||||
| Kent | 45,564 | 57.73% | 31,567 | 40.00% | 1,792 | 2.27% | 13,997 | 17.73% | 78,923 | ||||||||||
| Newport | 23,463 | 59.47% | 15,202 | 38.53% | 787 | 2.00% | 8,261 | 20.94% | 39,452 | ||||||||||
| Providence | 159,520 | 66.53% | 75,785 | 31.61% | 4,481 | 1.86% | 83,735 | 34.92% | 239,786 | ||||||||||
| Washington | 35,888 | 57.07% | 25,366 | 40.34% | 1,625 | 2.59% | 10,522 | 16.73% | 62,879 | ||||||||||
| Totals | 279,677 | 62.70% | 157,204 | 35.24% | 9,168 | 2.06% | 122,473 | 27.46% | 446,049 | ||||||||||
Obama won both congressional districts.[9]
| District | Obama | Romney | Representative | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66.21% | 32.18% | David Cicilline | |||
| 59.84% | 38.29% | James Langevin | |||
for Rhode Island
Major state elections in chronological order