2012 United States presidential election in North Dakota

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.

Mitt Romney handily won the state with 58.32% of the vote to Barack Obama's 38.69%, a 19.63% margin of victory, considerably higher than McCain's 8.65% margin of victory. He flipped seven counties that Obama carried in 2008, including Cass County, home to Fargo, the state's largest city. Obama was the first Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912 to win without Mountrail County. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time a Democrat won Benson, Ransom, Sargent, and Steele counties.

Despite Romney's comfortable margin of victory, Democratic candidate Heidi Heitkamp narrowly won the concurrent senate election.

Caucuses Democratic caucuses

Republican caucuses

The 2012 North Dakota Republican caucuses were held on March 6, 2012. North Dakota has 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention; 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.

2012 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates Rick Santorum4,51039.7% 6Ron Paul 3,186 28.1% 2Mitt Romney 2,691 23.7%20Newt Gingrich 962 8.5% 0Unprojected delegates0Totals11,349100.0%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.

General election Polling

Poll source Date(s)administered SamplesizeMargin oferror BarackObama (D) MittRomney (R) Other UndecidedMason-Dixon October 26–28 625 ± 4.0% 40%54% 3% 3%Forum/Essman October 12–15 500 ± 4.3% 32%57% - 11%Rasmussen Reports October 17–18 600 ± 4.0% 40%54% 2% 4%Mason-Dixon October 3–5 625 ± 4.0% 40%54% 1% 5%Rasmussen Reports July 10–11, 2012 400 ± - 5% 36%51% 6% 7%Mason-Dixon June 4–12 625 ± 4.0% 39%52% – –

‡Likely primary voters

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

Results 2012 United States presidential election in North DakotaPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral 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 Gary Johnson Jim Gray 5,238 1.62% 0 Other 1,860 0.58% 0 Green Jill Stein 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 CountyMitt RomneyRepublicanBarack ObamaDemocratic-NPLVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal#%#%#%#%Adams91871.38%32825.51%403.11%59045.87%1,286Barnes2,96453.68%2,39443.35%1642.97%57010.33%5,522Benson86840.24%1,23557.26%542.50%-367-17.02%2,157Billings47281.66%8915.40%162.94%38366.26%578Bottineau2,28064.14%1,18333.28%922.58%1,09730.86%3,555Bowman1,28073.69%41423.83%432.48%86649.86%1,737Burke76975.17%23022.48%242.35%53952.69%1,023Burleigh27,95164.42%14,12232.55%1,3143.03%13,82931.87%43,387Cass36,85549.90%34,71247.00%2,2883.10%2,1432.90%73,855Cavalier1,19557.76%81839.54%562.70%37718.22%2,069Dickey1,61063.51%85333.65%722.84%75729.86%2,535Divide73363.08%38533.13%443.79%34829.95%1,162Dunn1,50674.04%50824.98%200.98%99849.06%2,034Eddy63454.80%48642.01%373.19%14812.79%1,157Emmons1,43576.17%38320.33%663.50%1,05255.84%1,884Foster1,03061.24%60736.09%452.67%42325.15%1,682Golden Valley74279.96%16217.46%242.58%58062.50%928Grand Forks15,06050.15%14,03246.73%9373.12%1,0283.42%30,029Grant1,02572.54%33423.64%543.82%69148.90%1,413Griggs77157.41%53639.91%362.68%23517.50%1,343Hettinger1,00073.42%31322.98%493.60%68750.44%1,362Kidder87065.51%39329.59%654.90%47735.92%1,328LaMoure1,37762.76%74033.73%773.51%63729.03%2,194Logan81075.49%23221.62%312.89%57853.87%1,073McHenry1,67861.87%94334.77%913.36%73527.10%2,712McIntosh1,03567.65%45930.00%362.35%57637.65%1,530McKenzie2,45871.23%92726.86%661.91%1,53144.37%3,451McLean3,14163.61%1,67033.82%1272.57%1,47129.79%4,938Mercer3,15270.75%1,16626.17%1373.08%1,98644.58%4,455Morton8,68063.76%4,46932.83%4643.41%4,21130.93%13,613Mountrail1,96256.75%1,40340.58%922.67%55916.17%3,457Nelson86551.55%76745.71%462.74%985.84%1,678Oliver69368.41%28127.74%393.85%41240.67%1,013Pembina1,89958.34%1,25338.49%1033.17%64619.85%3,255Pierce1,46567.26%66030.30%532.44%80536.96%2,178Ramsey2,66553.31%2,16443.29%1703.40%50110.02%4,999Ransom1,00941.61%1,34355.38%733.01%-334-13.77%2,425Renville85166.59%39831.14%292.27%45335.45%1,278Richland4,22955.55%3,19842.01%1862.44%1,03113.54%7,613Rolette1,09223.99%3,35373.66%1072.35%-2,261-49.67%4,552Sargent87943.80%1,07553.56%532.64%-196-9.76%2,007Sheridan64278.10%16319.83%172.07%47958.27%822Sioux22519.67%90078.67%191.66%-675-59.00%1,144Slope34178.03%8318.99%132.98%25859.04%437Stark8,52173.25%2,81224.17%3002.58%5,70949.08%11,633Steele49847.79%51849.71%262.50%-20-1.92%1,042Stutsman5,68559.48%3,58537.51%2883.01%2,10021.97%9,558Towner62352.71%51643.65%433.64%1079.06%1,182Traill1,99650.91%1,81146.19%1142.90%1854.72%3,921Walsh2,65655.44%1,98541.43%1503.13%67114.01%4,791Ward16,23063.74%8,44133.15%7923.11%7,78930.59%25,463Wells1,65469.53%67328.29%522.18%98141.24%2,379Williams7,18473.25%2,32223.67%3023.08%4,86249.58%9,808Totals188,16358.32%124,82738.69%9,6372.99%63,33619.63%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 an at-large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results. District Romney Obama RepresentativeAt-large 58.32% 38.7%Kevin Cramer

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

References

External links

The Green Papers: for North Dakota The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order