2012 United States presidential election in Utah

Election in Utah

The 2012 United States presidential election in Utah 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. Utah voters chose six 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, all 17 news organizations making election predictions considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Utah is among the most heavily Republican states, voting for the Republican ticket in every presidential election since 1968 and all but once since 1952, and is also the only state to have a majority Mormon population, benefiting Romney, the first Mormon to head a major party presidential ticket. Romney won in a landslide, carrying 72.62% of the vote to Obama’s 24.69%, a margin of 47.93% or 488,787 votes, the best raw vote margin in the state’s history to date.^[1] He won every county in the state by margins of over 15%, except for Grand and Summit County, home to the cities of Moab and Park City, respectively. Romney flipped these counties along with Salt Lake County, where the state’s largest city, Salt Lake City, is located.

With a 47.93% margin, Utah would prove to be Romney’s strongest state in the 2012 election, and it would also be Romney’s largest outperformance of John McCain in 2008, winning the state by almost 20 points more.^[2] Romney would go on to be elected as a United States Senator from Utah six years later in 2018 after having switched his residence to the Beehive State. Romney’s vote share in Utah was also the highest of any presidential nominee in any state since Ronald Reagan’s in Utah in 1984, and remains so as of 2020. Romney’s landslide win would also foreshadow Utah’s considerable swing to the center in the elections following. Romney, who became a heavy critic of later-President Donald Trump,^[3][4][5] played a factor in Trump’s smaller 20.48% win in 2020, representing a significant decline in support for the Republican Party likely attributable to Romney’s popularity among Utah voters.

As of 2020, this is the last time the Republican nominee won Utah with more than 60% of the vote, as well as the last time they won every county. It is also the last election in which Salt Lake County and Summit County have voted for the Republican presidential nominee. This is also the last time Utah has been the most Republican state in the United States, and the last time Utah voted to the right of any of the following: Wyoming, West Virginia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Idaho, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Dakota or Nebraska’s 3rd congressional district. This is the last time a Republican presidential candidate won 70% of the vote in any state, as well as the last time any candidate (along with Obama in Hawaii) has won more than 70% of the vote in any state.

Primaries[edit]

Democratic[edit]

Due to President Barack Obama running for reelection without serious opposition from the Democratic Party in 2012, no Democratic Primary was held in Utah.

Republican[edit]

2012 Utah Republican primary

Utah results by county.   Mitt Romney

The 2012 Utah Republican presidential primary took place on 26 June 2012.^[6] 37 delegates were chosen, for a total of 40 delegates to go to the national convention, all pledged to the primary winner.

In 2008, Mitt Romney received major support from the Mormon (Latter Day Saints) and other religious population and was able to carry the state with 93.07% of the vote. Romney led the polling in 2012^[7][8] and won the primary by more than a landslide, and no other candidate could either scrape past 5% of the vote, awarding him all 40 delegates.^[9]

Key:	Withdrew prior to contest

General election[edit]

Candidate ballot access[edit]

• Willard Mitt Romney / Paul Davis Ryan, Republican
• Barack Hussein Obama / Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., Democratic
• Ross Carl “Rocky” Anderson / Luis Javier Rodriguez, Justice
• Gary Earl Johnson / James Polin Gray, Libertarian
• Jill Ellen Stein / Cheri Lynn Honkala, Green
• Virgil Hamlin Goode, Jr. / James N. Clymer, Constitution
• Gloria Estela La Riva / Filberto Ramirez Jr., Socialism and Liberation (as stand-ins for Peta Lindsay and Yari Osorio, who may not appear on the Utah ballot due to their Constitutional ineligibility to be president and vice president)^{[needs update]}

Write-in access:

Results[edit]

Results by county[edit]

County	Willard Mitt Romney[11] Republican		Barack Hussein Obama[11] Democratic		Gary Earl Johnson[11] Libertarian		Various candidates[11] Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Beaver	2,174	84.92%	346	13.52%	17	0.66%	23	0.90%	1,828	71.41%	2,560
Box Elder	17,101	88.12%	1,984	10.22%	150	0.77%	172	0.89%	15,117	77.89%	19,407
Cache	35,039	82.85%	6,244	14.76%	543	1.28%	467	1.10%	28,795	68.08%	42,293
Carbon	5,090	67.27%	2,275	30.06%	88	1.16%	114	1.51%	2,815	37.20%	7,567
Daggett	406	78.08%	94	18.08%	16	3.08%	4	0.77%	312	60.00%	520
Davis	96,861	80.00%	21,889	18.08%	1,217	1.01%	1,102	0.91%	74,972	61.93%	121,069
Duchesne	5,698	89.32%	581	9.11%	41	0.64%	59	0.92%	5,117	80.22%	6,379
Emery	3,777	84.88%	569	12.79%	48	1.08%	56	1.26%	3,208	72.09%	4,450
Garfield	1,832	83.96%	308	14.12%	17	0.78%	25	1.15%	1,524	69.84%	2,182
Grand	1,996	50.53%	1,727	43.72%	71	1.80%	156	3.95%	269	6.81%	3,950
Iron	14,200	85.02%	2,148	12.86%	202	1.21%	151	0.90%	12,052	72.16%	16,701
Juab	3,448	86.81%	451	11.35%	27	0.68%	46	1.16%	2,997	75.45%	3,972
Kane	2,522	74.81%	744	22.07%	47	1.39%	58	1.72%	1,778	52.74%	3,371
Millard	4,478	89.10%	431	8.58%	43	0.86%	74	1.47%	4,047	80.52%	5,026
Morgan	4,114	89.51%	403	8.77%	36	0.78%	43	0.94%	3,711	80.74%	4,596
Piute	697	89.13%	74	9.46%	5	0.64%	6	0.77%	623	79.67%	782
Rich	915	90.86%	83	8.24%	6	0.60%	3	0.30%	832	82.62%	1,007
Salt Lake	223,811	58.62%	146,147	38.28%	5,521	1.45%	6,318	1.65%	77,664	20.34%	381,797
San Juan	3,074	57.92%	2,139	40.31%	42	0.79%	52	0.98%	935	17.62%	5,307
Sanpete	8,406	88.05%	980	10.27%	69	0.72%	92	0.96%	7,426	77.78%	9,547
Sevier	7,207	89.32%	738	9.15%	56	0.69%	68	0.84%	6,469	80.17%	8,069
Summit	8,884	50.80%	8,072	46.16%	301	1.72%	231	1.32%	812	4.64%	17,488
Tooele	14,268	74.08%	4,524	23.49%	232	1.20%	237	1.23%	9,744	50.59%	19,261
Uintah	10,421	89.97%	997	8.61%	71	0.61%	94	0.81%	9,424	81.36%	11,583
Utah	156,950	88.32%	17,281	9.72%	2,120	1.19%	1,362	0.77%	139,669	78.59%	177,713
Wasatch	7,220	75.29%	2,191	22.85%	90	0.94%	88	0.92%	5,029	52.45%	9,589
Washington	44,698	82.76%	8,337	15.44%	541	1.00%	436	0.81%	36,361	67.32%	54,012
Wayne	1,089	82.06%	215	16.20%	6	0.45%	17	1.28%	874	65.86%	1,327
Weber	54,224	71.43%	19,841	26.14%	949	1.25%	898	1.18%	34,383	45.29%	75,912
Totals	740,600	72.79%	251,813	24.75%	12,572	1.24%	12,455	1.22%	488,787	48.04%	1,017,440

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican[edit]

By congressional district[edit]

Mitt Romney won all four congressional districts, including the 4th district, which simultaneously elected a Democrat, Jim Matheson.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]