2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island

2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Turnout	60.8% 6.1 pp
Obama 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% 90–100%	Romney 40–50% 50–60%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Barack Obama; Democratic

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.

Primary elections

Democratic primary

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^[4]
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

Republican primary

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%.^[6] 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

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Huffington Post^[8]	Safe D	November 6, 2012
CNN^[9]	Safe D	November 6, 2012
New York Times^[10]	Safe D	November 6, 2012
Washington Post^[11]	Safe D	November 6, 2012
RealClearPolitics^[12]	Solid D	November 6, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[13]	Solid D	November 5, 2012
FiveThirtyEight^[14]	Solid D	November 6, 2012

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Rhode Island^[15]
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%

By county

County	Barack Obama Democratic		Mitt Romney Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	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

By congressional district

Obama won both congressional districts.^[16]

District	Obama	Romney	Representative
1st	66.21%	32.18%	David Cicilline
2nd	59.84%	38.29%	James Langevin

References

^
This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in 2012 (446,049) by an estimate of the number of registered voters in Rhode Island in 2012 (732,860).
- For the number of votes cast, see "Official 2012 Presidential General Election Results". Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 26, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- For the estimated number of registered voters, see "STATEWIDE - VOTER REGISTRATION SUMMARY" (PDF). Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 14, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
^ "Rhode Island 2016 Presidential And State Election Results". NPR.org. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
^ "The Road to 270: Rhode Island". 270toWin.com. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Rhode Island Democrat". The Green Papers. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
^ "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
^ ^a ^b "REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE". Retrieved April 25, 2012.
^ State of Rhode Island official election results
^ "Huffington Post Election Dashboard". HuffPost. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013.
^ "America's Choice 2012 Election Center: CNN Electoral Map". CNN. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.
^ "Election 2012 - The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012.
^ "2012 Presidential Election Results". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012.
^ "RealClearPolitics - 2012 Election Maps - Battle for White House". Archived from the original on June 8, 2011.
^ "PROJECTION: OBAMA WILL LIKELY WIN SECOND TERM".
^ "Nate Silver's political calculations predict 2012 election outcome".
^ "State of Rhode Island Board of Elections". Retrieved November 14, 2012.
^ "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 11, 2020.

External links

The Green Papers: for Rhode Island
The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order

[1] This figure is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast in 2012 (446,049) by an estimate of the number of registered voters in Rhode Island in 2012 (732,860).
For the number of votes cast, see "Official 2012 Presidential General Election Results". Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 26, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2018.

For the estimated number of registered voters, see "STATEWIDE - VOTER REGISTRATION SUMMARY" (PDF). Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 14, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2018.

[2] For the number of votes cast, see "Official 2012 Presidential General Election Results". Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 26, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2018.

[3] For the estimated number of registered voters, see "STATEWIDE - VOTER REGISTRATION SUMMARY" (PDF). Rhode Island Board of Elections. November 14, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2018.

[2] "Rhode Island 2016 Presidential And State Election Results". NPR.org. Retrieved November 17, 2020.

[3] "The Road to 270: Rhode Island". 270toWin.com. Retrieved November 17, 2020.

[GPRI-4] "Rhode Island Democrat". The Green Papers. Retrieved November 14, 2012.

[5] "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.

[ri.gov-6] "REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE". Retrieved April 25, 2012.

[7] State of Rhode Island official election results

[8] "Huffington Post Election Dashboard". HuffPost. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013.

[9] "America's Choice 2012 Election Center: CNN Electoral Map". CNN. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.

[10] "Election 2012 - The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012.

[11] "2012 Presidential Election Results". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012.

[12] "RealClearPolitics - 2012 Election Maps - Battle for White House". Archived from the original on June 8, 2011.

[13] "PROJECTION: OBAMA WILL LIKELY WIN SECOND TERM".

[14] "Nate Silver's political calculations predict 2012 election outcome".

[RISBOE-15] "State of Rhode Island Board of Elections". Retrieved November 14, 2012.

[16] "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 11, 2020.

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