United States presidential election in Idaho, 2012

United States presidential election in Idaho, 2012

November 6, 2012
Nominee Mitt Romney Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Massachusetts Illinois Running mate Paul Ryan Joe Biden Electoral vote 4 0 Popular vote 420,911 212,787 Percentage 64.1% 32.4%
County Results Romney   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%   >90% Obama   40-50%   50-60%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The 2012 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 6, 2012 as part of the 2012 General 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.^[1]

General election

Candidate Ballot Access:

• Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican
• Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic
• Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian
• Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green
• Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer, Constitution
• Rocky Anderson/Luis J. Rodriguez, Justice

Results

Democratic caucuses

President Obama ran alone in the caucuses. The District cast all 31 of its delegate votes at the 2012 Democratic National Convention for Obama.^[2]

Republican caucuses

Idaho Republican caucuses, 2012

March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06)
Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Ron Paul Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Texas Delegate count 32 0 0 Popular vote 27,514 8,115 8,086 Percentage 61.6% 18.2% 18.1%
Idaho results by county   Mitt Romney   Rick Santorum   Ron Paul

Elections in Idaho
Federal government Presidential elections 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Presidential primaries Democratic Caucuses 2008 Republican Primaries 2008 2012 U.S. Senate elections 1980 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 U.S. House elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
State government General elections 2014 Gubernatorial elections 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State legislature elections 2006
Ballot measures Gubernatorial elections Amendment 2 Proposition 2

2012 U.S. Presidential Election
Timeline General election debates Electors Polling nationwide statewide Parties
Democratic Party
Candidates Primaries Nominee Convention
Republican Party
Prelude Candidates Debates and forums Primaries National polling Statewide polling Straw Results Nominee Convention Endorsements
Minor parties Libertarian Party Candidates Primaries Nominee Convention Green Party Primaries Nominee Convention Endorsements Constitution Party Nominee Convention Justice Party Nominee Americans Elect All candidates
Related races
House Senate Governors Vice President Democratic Republican
2008 ← 2012 → 2016

The Republican caucuses took place on Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012.^[4][5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7]

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, he will receive all the 32 delegates; if not, the delegates will be split proportionately according to the number of county delegates.^[8] 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,^[8] there were a total of five straw polls conducted in Idaho, three of which were online. Ron Paul won three of these,^[9][10][11] while Mitt Romney won two.^[12]

January 2–4 online poll

This was the first ever Idaho straw poll.^[13]It was conducted entirely online by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won with over 70 percent of the vote.^[9]

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.^[10]

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.^[12]

March 1–3 online poll

This poll was also produced by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won by a double-digit margin.^[11]

Results

Results:^[14][15]

County totals

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.

See also

• Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries

References

External links

• The Green Papers: for Idaho
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order