2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota

United States presidential election in South Dakota, 2012
Romney—40-50% Romney—50-60% Romney—60-70% Romney—70-80% Romney—80-90%	Obama—50-60% Obama—60-70% Obama—70-80% Obama—>90%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Barack Obama; Democratic

The 2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 6, 2012 as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated. South 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. Romney won South Dakota by an 18.2 percent margin of victory.

General Election

United States presidential election in South Dakota, 2012^[1]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	210,610	57.89%	3
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	145,039	39.87%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	5,795	1.59%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	2,371	0.65%	0
Totals				363,815	100.00%	3

The Republican primary took place on June 5, 2012.^[2] 25 delegates will be chosen, for a total of 28 delegates to go to the national convention.

South Dakota Republican primary, 2012
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates
Mitt Romney	34,033	66.1%	25
Ron Paul	6,704	13.01%	0
Rick Santorum	5,916	11.48%	0
Uncommitted	2,797	5.43%	0
Newt Gingrich	2,074	4.03%	0
Unpledged delegates:			3
Total:	51,524	100.0%	28

Key:

Withdrew prior to contest