The 2012 United States presidential election in Idaho 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. Idaho 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. Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Romney and Ryan carried Idaho with 64.09% of the popular vote to Obama's and Biden's 32.40%, thus winning the state's four electoral votes. Romney's victory in Idaho made it his fourth strongest state in the 2012 election after Utah, Wyoming and Oklahoma. He improved on McCain's performance in 2008, expanding his margin from 25.3% to 31.69% and flipping Teton County which had previously voted for Obama.
Caucuses Democratic caucuses President Obama ran unopposed in the caucuses. The District cast all 31 of its delegate votes at the 2012 Democratic National Convention for Obama. 2012 Idaho Democratic presidential primary CandidateState convention delegatesPercentageDelegatesBarack Obama (incumbent)1,400100%27Unpledged delegates:4Total:1,400 100%31
Republican caucuses
The Republican caucuses took place on Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012. An advisory primary with no binding effect on delegates, scheduled to be held on Tuesday May 15, 2012, was cancelled by the Idaho Republican Party. Five candidates were on the ballot. In order of filing they are Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Buddy Roemer. Although Roemer had withdrawn from the Republican race before the Idaho caucus, he still appeared on the ballot.
Idaho has 32 delegates to the Republican national convention, of which 3 are RNC and 29 are AL. The 3 RNC delegates pledged to go with the results of the Boise Straw Poll. The delegates will be determined by the caucuses results, based on a two-step approach. First, the delegates are primarily awarded winner-take-all by county after a series of votes in which candidates are successively removed from the ballot. Then, if a candidate receives half or more of the county delegates, they will receive all the 32 delegates; if not, the delegates will be split proportionately according to the number of county delegates. Mitt Romney won 61% of the vote, thanks to a large majority of support (80-90% in most counties) in majority Mormon southeastern Idaho, rendering it a winner-take-all contest. Santorum and Paul split the Panhandle, winning five counties each, but came away empty in the delegate count.
Straw polls Despite a complete lack of formal polling in the state, there were a total of five straw polls conducted in Idaho, three of which were online. Ron Paul won three of these,http://www.kivitv.com/news/local/136861888.html while Mitt Romney won two.
January 2–4 online poll This was the first ever Idaho straw poll. It was conducted entirely online by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won with over 70% of the vote.
Finish Candidate Percentage 1 73.53% 2 8.09% 3 7.35% 4 5.15% 5 3.68% 6 1.47% 7 0.74% 8 0.00% 9 0.00% Total 100%
January 6 Boise poll This poll used paper ballots and was conducted in Boise. Ron Paul won this poll. Rick Perry's campaign, although still active in the race at this time, did not participate.
Finish Candidate Percentage Votes 1 43% 173 2 34% 135 3 12% 47 4 10% 40 5 1% 4 Total 100% 399
February 2–4 online poll This online straw poll was also produced by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Mitt Romney won the poll by a small margin.
Finish Candidate Percentage 1 45.39% 2 42.70% 3 4.49% 4 3.82% 5 3.15% 6Other 0.45% Total 100%
March 1–3 online poll This poll was also produced by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won by a double-digit margin.
Finish Candidate Percentage Votes 1 51.37% 525 2 35.03% 358 3 3.91% 40 4 3.23% 33 5 2.84% 29 6 1.96% 20 7 0.98% 10 8 0.49% 5 9 Other 0.2% 2 Total 100% 1022
Results Results:
Finish Candidate Percentage Votes Estimated National Delegates 1 61.6% 27,514 32 2 18.2% 8,115 0 3 18.1% 8,086 0 4 2.1% 940 0 5 0.0% 17 0 Total 100% 32
County totals County Newt GingrichRon PaulMitt RomneyRick Santorum Total Winner Ada 307 1766 4233 1866 8172 Romney Adams 0 85 132 0 217 Romney Bannock 24 254 1614 146 2038 Romney Bear Lake 2 15 308 19 344 Romney Benewah 24 90 26 145 265 Santorum Bingham 27 215 2172 150 2564 Romney Blaine 47 79 230 23 379 Romney Boise 0 128 163 0 291 Romney Bonner 0 555 0 487 1042 Paul Bonneville 65 481 3044 235 3825 Romney Boundary 0 193 64 101 358 Paul Butte 10 25 153 23 211 Romney Camas 0 40 38 0 78 Paul Canyon 0 617 2056 1296 3969 Romney Caribou 7 22 336 26 391 Romney Cassia 28 143 1279 144 1594 Romney Clark 2 8 88 17 115 Romney Clearwater 0 85 0 151 236 Santorum Custer 19 48 98 24 189 Romney Elmore 0 158 281 0 439 Romney Franklin 4 105 856 29 994 Romney Fremont 12 76 726 38 852 Romney Gem 0 150 379 143 672 Romney Gooding 47 84 299 86 516 Romney Idaho 0 284 0 191 475 Paul Jefferson 11 212 1642 114 1979 Romney Jerome 28 74 331 101 534 Romney Kootenai 0 496 0 674 1170 Santorum Latah 78 509 197 188 972 Paul Lemhi 44 60 217 64 385 Romney Lewis 0 0 25 44 69 Santorum Lincoln 14 11 147 49 221 Romney Madison 7 260 2510 50 2827 Romney Minidoka 22 80 653 92 847 Romney Nez Perce 0 127 124 0 251 Paul Oneida 3 39 241 18 301 Romney Owyhee 0 0 177 263 440 Santorum Payette 0 0 428 302 730 Romney Power 9 13 287 38 347 Romney Shoshone 0 0 63 74 137 Santorum Teton 13 44 295 26 378 Romney Twin Falls 83 332 1228 409 2052 Romney Valley 0 123 152 0 275 Romney Washington 0 0 222 269 491 Santorum Notes That these totals reflect the final caucus ballots in each county; where only two candidates have votes totaled, this was likely from other candidates being eliminated in previous rounds of voting. Where all candidates have at least one vote, only one ballot was necessary, since the winning candidate had a majority of votes in that county. Vote totals for Buddy Roemer, who had formally withdrawn from the Republican race before the caucus, are not provided.
General election Predictions SourceRankingAs ofHuffington PostNovember 6, 2012CNNNovember 6, 2012 New York Times November 6, 2012Washington PostNovember 6, 2012RealClearPoliticsNovember 6, 2012Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2012FiveThirtyEightNovember 6, 2012
Candidate ballot access Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer, Constitution Rocky Anderson/Luis J. Rodriguez, Justice
Results 2012 United States presidential election in IdahoPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Mitt Romney Paul Ryan 420,911 64.09% 4 Democratic Barack Obama (incumbent) Joe Biden (incumbent) 212,787 32.40% 0 Libertarian Gary Johnson Jim Gray 9,453 1.44% 0 Green Jill Stein Cheri Honkala 4,402 0.67% 0 Justice Rocky Anderson Luis J. Rodriguez 2,499 0.38% 0 Constitution Virgil Goode Jim Clymer 2,222 0.34% 0 Totals 656,742 100.00% 4
By county CountyMitt RomneyRepublicanBarack ObamaDemocraticVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal#%#%#%#%Ada97,55453.53%77,13742.33%7,5554.14%20,41711.20%182,246Adams1,41368.56%57728.00%713.44%83640.56%2,061Bannock21,01059.14%13,21437.20%1,2993.66%7,79621.94%35,523Bear Lake2,48988.20%30210.70%311.10%2,18777.50%2,822Benewah2,59666.82%1,16429.96%1253.22%1,43236.86%3,885Bingham13,44076.03%3,82221.62%4162.35%9,61854.41%17,678Blaine3,93938.64%5,99258.78%2632.58%-2,053-20.14%10,194Boise2,28466.28%1,05330.56%1093.16%1,23135.72%3,446Bonner11,36760.45%6,50034.57%9364.98%4,86725.88%18,803Bonneville32,27674.68%9,90322.91%1,0382.41%22,37351.77%43,217Boundary3,13869.06%1,22526.96%1813.98%1,91342.10%4,544Butte1,00177.84%25820.06%272.10%74357.78%1,286Camas40269.55%15927.51%172.94%24342.04%578Canyon44,36966.47%19,86629.76%2,5123.77%24,50336.71%66,747Caribou2,60885.45%38612.65%581.90%2,22272.80%3,052Cassia7,15484.84%1,09813.02%1802.14%6,05671.82%8,432Clark23571.65%6620.12%278.23%16951.53%328Clearwater2,54168.75%1,03227.92%1233.33%1,50940.83%3,696Custer1,74474.06%53022.51%813.43%1,21451.55%2,355Elmore5,22765.31%2,51331.40%2633.29%2,71433.91%8,003Franklin5,19592.77%3255.80%801.43%4,87086.97%5,600Fremont4,90784.57%81013.96%851.47%4,09770.61%5,802Gem5,31170.90%1,95726.12%2232.98%3,35444.78%7,491Gooding3,69672.22%1,28725.15%1352.63%2,40947.07%5,118Idaho5,92175.52%1,70821.79%2112.69%4,21353.73%7,840Jefferson9,89586.94%1,30311.45%1831.61%8,59275.49%11,381Jerome4,80471.52%1,69925.29%2143.19%3,10546.23%6,717Kootenai39,38165.09%18,85131.16%2,2733.75%20,53033.93%60,505Latah7,58944.32%8,30648.51%1,2297.17%-717-4.19%17,124Lemhi3,02973.70%96023.36%1212.94%2,06950.34%4,110Lewis1,17372.63%39624.52%462.85%77748.11%1,615Lincoln1,14168.61%46928.20%533.19%67240.41%1,663Madison13,44593.29%8325.77%1350.94%12,61387.52%14,412Minidoka5,44278.04%1,39019.93%1412.03%4,05258.11%6,973Nez Perce9,96758.65%6,45137.96%5753.39%3,51620.69%16,993Oneida1,83887.98%21710.39%341.63%1,62177.59%2,089Owyhee2,79475.03%83322.37%972.60%1,96152.66%3,724Payette6,00470.68%2,27126.73%2202.59%3,73343.95%8,495Power1,87064.39%98233.82%521.79%88830.57%2,904Shoshone2,69952.43%2,27744.23%1723.34%4228.20%5,148Teton2,45854.34%1,92642.58%1393.08%53211.76%4,523Twin Falls19,77369.70%7,54126.58%1,0553.72%12,23243.12%28,369Valley2,66454.16%2,09542.59%1603.25%56911.57%4,919Washington3,12872.22%1,10425.49%992.29%2,02446.73%4,331Totals420,91164.09%212,78732.40%23,0443.51%208,12431.69%656,742
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Teton (largest city: Victor)
By congressional district Romney won both congressional districts. District Obama Romney Representative 32.19% 64.91%Raúl Labrador 33.07% 64.14%Mike Simpson
See also United States presidential elections in Idaho 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries Idaho Republican Party
References
External links The Green Papers: for Idaho The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order