2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

The 2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts 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. Massachusetts voters chose 11 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.

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election
2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
November 6, 2012
 
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Massachusetts
Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan
Electoral vote 11 0
Popular vote 1,921,290 1,188,314
Percentage 60.65% 37.51%
President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

 Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Obama and Biden won Massachusetts with 60.65% of the popular vote to Romney's and Ryan's 37.51%, thus winning the state's 11 electoral votes by a 23.14% margin of victory, despite the fact that Massachusetts is Romney's home state and he had been Governor of the state from 2003 to 2007.[1] This was the first time a presidential candidate lost his home state since Al Gore lost Tennessee in the 2000 election. Romney also became the first Republican candidate to lose their home-state since Richard Nixon lost his home-state of New York to Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960, and has kept up its intense level of the sizable Democratic margins since 1996, even fending off one of the state's own former governors, Mitt Romney. Massachusetts has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984. It was also the sixth straight election (beginning in 1992) in which the Democratic presidential candidate swept every one of the state's 14 counties. Consequently, Romney became the first candidate since Theodore Roosevelt one hundred years earlier to claim an electoral vote yet win no county in his home state.[lower-alpha 1] The 2012 election also marks the third consecutive instance where a major party's presidential candidate who considered Massachusetts as his home state lost (this also happened in 1988 and 2004 when Michael Dukakis and John Kerry respectively lost their bids). Romney also became the first major party nominee to lose their home state by twenty or more points in 80 years (this feat would be repeated in 2016 when Donald Trump lost New York state to Hillary Clinton).

The 2012 presidential election marks the most recent cycle that Romney would stand for public office as a resident of Massachusetts. He would be on the ballot again in 2018, but as a candidate for United States Senator from Utah.

Primaries

Democratic
See also: 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries
Massachusetts Democratic Primary, 2012
March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06)
 
Candidate Barack Obama
Party Democratic
Home state Illinois
Delegate count 110
Popular vote 127,909
Percentage 86.50%
Massachusetts results by county
  Barack Obama

Incumbent president Barack Obama won the Democratic Primary with 81% of the vote.[2][3] He wasn't challenged in the primary and the rest of the vote went to write-in candidates. Through the primary and district caucuses, he won all of the state's 110 pledged delegates, which were pledged to vote for him at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina (the state also had 26 superdelegates).[3]

Massachusetts Democratic primary, 2012[2][3]
Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates
Barack Obama 127,909 86.50% 110
No preference 16,075 10.87% 0
Write-ins 3,889 2.63% 0
Totals 147,873 100.00% 110

Republican
See also: Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
Massachusetts Republican primary, 2012
March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06)
 
Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Ron Paul
Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Texas
Delegate count 38 0 0
Popular vote 266,313 44,564 35,219
Percentage 71.89% 12.03% 9.51%
Massachusetts results by county
  Mitt Romney

The 2012 Massachusetts Republican primary was held on March 6, 2012.[4][5] Among the 41 delegates to the Republican National Convention, 38 are awarded proportionately among candidates getting at least 15% of the vote statewide, and another three super delegates are unbound.[6] Expectedly, Romney won Massachusetts by a landslide. Romney won the plurality in every town with the exception of 10 towns (Santorum winning 7, Paul winning 2, and a tie in 1), earning the majority in all but 53 towns.[7]

Massachusetts Republican primary, 2012[8]
Candidate Votes Percentage Projected delegate count
AP CNN
[9]		 FOX
[10]
Mitt Romney 266,313 71.89% - 38 38
Rick Santorum 44,564 12.03% - 0 0
Ron Paul 35,219 9.51% - 0 0
Newt Gingrich 16,991 4.59% - 0 0
Jon Huntsman (withdrawn) 2,268 0.61% - 0 0
Rick Perry (withdrawn) 991 0.27% - 0 0
Michele Bachmann (withdrawn) 865 0.23% - 0 0
No preference 1,793 0.48% - 0 0
Blanks 818 0.22% - 0 0
Others 613 0.17% - 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 41 3 3
Total: 370,425 100.00% 41 41 41

Green-Rainbow
See also: 2012 Green Party presidential primaries
Massachusetts Green-Rainbow primary, 2012
March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06)
 
Candidate Jill Stein Kent Mesplay Harley Mikkelson
Party Green Green Green
Home state Massachusetts California
Delegate count 8 1 1
Popular vote 1,018 89 84
Percentage 67.06% 5.86% 5.53%

The 2012 Massachusetts Green-Rainbow primary was held on March 6, 2012.

Massachusetts Green-Rainbow primary, 2012[11]
Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates
Jill Stein 1,018 67.06% 8
No preference 232 15.28% 2
Kent Mesplay 89 5.86% 1
Harley Mikkelson 84 5.53% 1
Write-ins 95 6.26% 0
Totals 1,518 100.00% 11
Elections in Massachusetts

2012 U.S. presidential election
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Related races
2012

General election

Candidate Ballot Access:

  • Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican
  • Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic
  • Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green
  • Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian

Results
2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[12]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,921,290 60.65% 11
Republican Mitt Romney Paul Ryan 1,188,314 37.51% 0
Libertarian Gary Johnson Jim Gray 30,920 0.98% 0
Green-Rainbow Jill Stein Cheri Honkala 20,691 0.65% 0
Others Others 6,552 0.21% 0
Totals 3,167,767 100.00% 11

By county
County Obama% Obama# Romney% Romney# Others% Others# Total
Barnstable52.99%70,82245.23%60,4461.39%1,847133,115
Berkshire75.34%48,84321.98%14,2522.16%1,39164,486
Bristol58.74%142,96238.52%93,7521.99%4,795241,509
Dukes72.34%7,97825.32%2,7921.81%19810,968
Essex57.13%210,30240.88%150,4801.52%5,575366,357
Franklin71.19%27,07224.57%9,3443.55%1,34237,758
Hampden61.23%123,61936.35%73,3921.69%3,388200,399
Hampshire69.77%57,35926.13%21,4803.41%2,78281,621
Middlesex62.29%471,80435.30%267,3211.99%15,045754,170
Nantucket62.33%3,83035.59%2,1871.68%1036,120
Norfolk56.58%202,71441.42%148,3931.52%5,416356,523
Plymouth51.16%131,84546.98%121,0861.40%3,600256,531
Suffolk77.03%223,89620.64%59,9991.80%5,203289,098
Worcester53.45%198,24444.06%163,3902.03%7,478369,112

See also

References
  1. "2012 Presidential Election – Massachusetts". Politico. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  2. "PD43+ » 2012 President Democratic Primary". PD43+. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  3. "Massachusetts Democratic Delegation 2012". www.thegreenpapers.com. The Green Papers. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  4. "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  5. "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  6. Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  7. Boston Globe (March 4, 2012). "2012 Massachusetts Republican Presidential Primary results". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  8. http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleres/repprim12.pdf
  9. Massachusetts – CNN
  10. "Massachusetts – Fox News". Archived from the original on 2012-04-07. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  11. "PD43+ » 2012 President Green-Rainbow Primary". PD43+. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  12. "Massachusetts Secretary of State". Retrieved 2012-11-30.

Notes
  1. James B. Weaver, the Populist candidate in 1892, is the only other case since before the Civil War: he won five states but no county in his home state of Iowa.
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