2012 United States presidential election in Ohio

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

The 2012 United States presidential election in Ohio 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. Ohio voters chose 18 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. This election continued Ohio's bellwether streak, as the state voted for the winner of the presidency in every election from 1964 to 2016.

2012 United States presidential election in Ohio

← 2008 November 6, 2012 2016 →
Turnout	70.54%[1]
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Massachusetts Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan Electoral vote 18 0 Popular vote 2,827,709 2,661,437 Percentage 50.67% 47.69%
County results Congressional district results Obama   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   80–90% Romney   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

President Obama won the popular vote in Ohio with 50.67% of the vote over Mitt Romney in second place at 47.69%, a Democratic victory margin of 2.98%. A number of media outlets called Ohio for Obama, declared him re-elected for a second term.^[2][3] Obama's performance was a decline from 2008 when he won the state by a 4.58% margin over U.S. Senator John McCain, and he narrowly lost five counties that he won in 2008.^[4] However, he narrowly improved his margins in Cuyahoga County and Franklin County, home to the second largest city, Cleveland, and the state's capital and largest city, Columbus, respectively and greatly improved his losing margin in Ross County home to the state's 1st and 3rd capital Chillicothe, allowing him to carry the state. Obama became the first Democrat to win the White House without Belmont County since Grover Cleveland in 1892, as well as the first to win without neighboring Jefferson County since Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and the first to win without Monroe or Tuscarawas Counties since John F. Kennedy in 1960.

As of the 2024 United States presidential election, this is the last time the Democratic presidential nominee won Ohio, as well as the last time Ashtabula County, Erie County, Ottawa County, Portage County, Sandusky County, Stark County, Trumbull County, and Wood County, have voted Democratic in a presidential election. This was also the last time the state voted for the winner of the national popular vote until 2024.

Primaries

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary was held on March 6, 2012, the same day as the Republican primary. Incumbent President Barack Obama ran unopposed, and thus won all 151 of the state's delegates.

Republican primary

2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary

← 2008 March 6, 2012 (2012-03-06) 2016 →

Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Delegate count 38 25 Popular vote 456,513 446,255 Percentage 37.9% 37.1%   Candidate Newt Gingrich Ron Paul Home state Georgia Texas Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 175,556 111,238 Percentage 14.6% 9.2%

Ohio results by county   Mitt Romney   Rick Santorum

The 2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary took place on March 6, 2012.^[5]

Ohio has 66 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Three party officials (also known as "superdelegates") are not bound by the primary result. Forty-eight delegates are generally awarded winner-take-all by Congressional district. Another 15 delegates are awarded to the candidate who gets an outright majority statewide, or are allocated proportionately among candidates winning at least 20% of the vote if no candidate wins a majority.^[6]

2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary[7]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Estimated national delegates
Mitt Romney	460,831	37.9%	38
Rick Santorum	448,580	37.1%	25
Newt Gingrich	177,183	14.6%	0
Ron Paul	113,256	9.3%	0
Rick Perry	7,539	0.6%	0
Jon Huntsman, Jr.	6,490	0.5%	0
Unprojected delegates			7
Totals	1,213,879	100.0%	66

Despite an early lead in the vote count and having won most counties, Santorum's lead was reduced and overcome by Romney as Hamilton and Cuyahoga County results came in.^[8] Romney also won areas such as Akron, Youngstown, Dayton and Columbus. These and other highly populated counties would eventually go to Obama in November.

Key:	Withdrew prior to contest

Notes:

1. In the six congressional districts where Rick Santorum submitted only a partial slate of district delegates and district alternates by the late December 2011 deadline, he will be automatically awarded only the number of delegates he submitted, assuming he wins the particular district. The Ohio Republican Party said on March 2, 2012, that the remaining delegates in such districts will be "considered unbound" until a panel composed of three members of the Ohio GOP's central committee decides which campaign (if any) is permitted to appoint such delegates.^[9]

2. In three congressional districts (OH-6, OH-9 and OH-13), Rick Santorum did not make the district-specific portion of the ballot.

3. In every district, each of the 6 candidates listed above appears on the "at-large" portion of the ballot. The results of the at-large ballot will determine the allocation of fifteen national convention delegates.

General election

Campaign

Ohio was considered a key battleground state throughout the general election campaign, and both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney campaigned extensively in the state.^[10] Romney visited the state 51 times, while Obama visited 22 times.^[11] Ohio had the most political ads run during the election, with 41,162 ads run by the Romney campaign and 100,674 by the Obama campaign.^[11]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Huffington Post[12]	Lean D	November 6, 2012
CNN[13]	Tossup	November 6, 2012
New York Times[14]	Tossup	November 6, 2012
Washington Post[15]	Tossup	November 6, 2012
RealClearPolitics[16]	Tossup	November 6, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball[17]	Lean D	November 5, 2012
FiveThirtyEight[18]	Solid D	November 6, 2012

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Ohio[19]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama (incumbent)	Joe Biden (incumbent)	2,827,709	50.58%	18
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	2,661,437	47.60%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	49,493	0.89%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	18,573	0.33%	0
	Independent	Richard Duncan	Ricky Johnson	12,502	0.22%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	8,152	0.15%	0
	Socialist	Stewart Alexander	Alex Mendoza	2,967	0.05%	0
	Others			23	0.00%	0
Totals				5,590,934	100.00%	18
Voter turnout (registered voters)						70.54%

By county

County[20]	Barack Obama Democratic		Mitt Romney Republican		Gary Johnson[21] Libertarian		Jill Stein[21] Green		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	3,976	35.76%	6,865	61.75%	98	0.87%	55	0.49%	124	1.11%	-2,889	-25.99%	11,118
Allen	17,914	37.06%	29,502	61.03%	464	0.96%	164	0.34%	297	0.61%	-11,588	-23.97%	48,341
Ashland	8,281	34.02%	15,519	63.76%	221	0.91%	115	0.47%	204	0.84%	-7,238	-29.74%	24,340
Ashtabula	23,803	55.10%	18,298	42.36%	433	1.00%	224	0.52%	442	1.03%	5,505	12.74%	43,200
Athens	18,307	66.02%	8,543	30.81%	434	1.57%	188	0.68%	256	0.92%	9,764	35.21%	27,728
Auglaize	5,831	24.87%	17,169	73.22%	209	0.89%	83	0.35%	157	0.67%	-11,338	-48.35%	23,449
Belmont	14,156	44.67%	16,758	52.88%	232	0.73%	178	0.56%	364	1.15%	-2,602	-8.21%	31,688
Brown	7,107	36.65%	11,916	61.45%	191	0.98%	68	0.35%	110	0.57%	-4,809	-24.80%	19,392
Butler	62,388	36.58%	105,176	61.68%	1,654	0.97%	413	0.24%	899	0.52%	-42,788	-25.10%	170,530
Carroll	5,543	41.73%	7,315	55.07%	173	1.30%	71	0.53%	182	1.37%	-1,772	-13.34%	13,284
Champaign	7,044	38.14%	11,045	59.81%	159	0.86%	66	0.36%	154	0.83%	-4,001	-21.67%	18,468
Clark	31,297	48.67%	31,820	49.49%	509	0.79%	214	0.33%	461	0.72%	-523	-0.82%	64,301
Clermont	30,458	31.55%	64,208	66.52%	1,069	1.11%	248	0.26%	542	0.56%	-33,750	-34.97%	96,525
Clinton	5,791	31.85%	12,009	66.05%	195	1.07%	56	0.31%	132	0.73%	-6,218	-34.20%	18,183
Columbiana	19,821	42.90%	25,251	54.66%	434	0.94%	216	0.47%	477	1.03%	-5,430	-11.76%	46,199
Coshocton	6,940	43.97%	8,390	53.16%	157	0.99%	96	0.61%	201	1.28%	-1,450	-9.19%	15,784
Crawford	7,507	37.82%	11,852	59.72%	186	0.94%	108	0.54%	194	0.98%	-4,345	-21.90%	19,847
Cuyahoga	447,273	69.32%	190,660	29.55%	3,448	0.53%	1,564	0.24%	2,317	0.36%	256,613	39.77%	645,262
Darke	6,826	26.84%	18,108	71.21%	212	0.83%	86	0.34%	198	0.78%	-11,282	-44.37%	25,430
Defiance	7,732	42.16%	10,176	55.49%	187	1.02%	64	0.35%	180	0.99%	-2,444	-13.33%	18,339
Delaware	37,292	37.71%	60,194	60.86%	851	0.86%	205	0.21%	357	0.36%	-22,902	-23.15%	98,899
Erie	21,793	55.17%	16,952	42.92%	300	0.76%	158	0.40%	297	0.75%	4,841	12.25%	39,500
Fairfield	29,890	41.39%	41,034	56.82%	624	0.86%	210	0.29%	462	0.64%	-11,144	-15.43%	72,220
Fayette	4,249	38.49%	6,620	59.97%	87	0.79%	18	0.16%	64	0.58%	-2,371	-21.48%	11,038
Franklin	346,373	60.53%	215,997	37.75%	5,535	0.97%	1,659	0.29%	2,624	0.46%	130,376	22.78%	572,188
Fulton	9,073	42.58%	11,738	55.08%	248	1.16%	82	0.38%	169	0.80%	-2,665	-12.50%	21,310
Gallia	4,557	36.10%	7,750	61.40%	79	0.63%	69	0.55%	167	1.32%	-3,193	-25.30%	12,622
Geauga	19,659	38.46%	30,589	59.85%	386	0.76%	182	0.36%	297	0.58%	-10,930	-21.39%	51,113
Greene	32,256	38.57%	49,819	59.57%	933	1.12%	245	0.29%	373	0.45%	-17,563	-21.00%	83,626
Guernsey	7,450	44.22%	8,993	53.37%	174	1.03%	70	0.42%	162	0.96%	-1,543	-9.15%	16,849
Hamilton	219,927	52.50%	193,326	46.15%	3,756	0.90%	1,012	0.24%	873	0.21%	26,601	6.35%	418,894
Hancock	12,564	35.11%	22,443	62.72%	352	0.98%	130	0.36%	294	0.82%	-9,879	-27.61%	35,783
Hardin	4,619	37.04%	7,489	60.06%	172	1.38%	68	0.55%	122	0.98%	-2,870	-23.02%	12,470
Harrison	2,950	41.24%	4,019	56.19%	62	0.87%	47	0.66%	75	1.05%	-1,069	-14.95%	7,153
Henry	5,658	39.69%	8,257	57.92%	169	1.19%	55	0.39%	118	0.83%	-2,599	-18.23%	14,257
Highland	6,054	33.86%	11,413	63.83%	176	0.98%	67	0.37%	169	0.95%	-5,359	-29.97%	17,879
Hocking	6,157	48.22%	6,285	49.22%	133	1.04%	57	0.45%	136	1.06%	-128	-1.00%	12,768
Holmes	2,608	22.55%	8,702	75.23%	93	0.80%	43	0.37%	121	1.05%	-6,094	-52.68%	11,567
Huron	11,006	44.54%	13,060	52.85%	260	1.05%	115	0.47%	270	1.10%	-2,054	-8.31%	24,711
Jackson	5,166	38.54%	7,904	58.97%	94	0.70%	101	0.75%	139	1.04%	-2,738	-20.43%	13,404
Jefferson	15,385	46.37%	17,034	51.34%	248	0.75%	157	0.47%	353	1.06%	-1,649	-4.97%	33,177
Knox	10,470	36.78%	17,266	60.66%	306	1.08%	114	0.40%	307	1.07%	-6,796	-23.88%	28,463
Lake	57,680	48.61%	58,744	49.50%	1,073	0.90%	436	0.37%	732	0.62%	-1,064	-0.89%	118,665
Lawrence	10,744	41.43%	14,651	56.50%	171	0.66%	93	0.36%	273	1.05%	-3,907	-15.07%	25,932
Licking	34,201	41.94%	45,503	55.80%	817	1.00%	311	0.38%	718	0.88%	-11,302	-13.86%	81,550
Logan	7,062	33.31%	13,633	64.31%	214	1.01%	80	0.38%	210	0.99%	-6,571	-31.00%	21,199
Lorain	81,464	56.87%	59,405	41.47%	1,275	0.89%	554	0.39%	555	0.39%	22,059	15.40%	143,253
Lucas	136,616	64.86%	69,940	33.21%	2,318	1.10%	652	0.31%	1,095	0.52%	66,676	31.65%	210,621
Madison	6,845	38.99%	10,342	58.91%	167	0.95%	67	0.38%	136	0.77%	-3,497	-19.92%	17,557
Mahoning	77,059	63.38%	42,641	35.07%	744	0.61%	370	0.30%	770	0.63%	34,418	28.31%	121,584
Marion	12,504	45.61%	14,265	52.03%	285	1.04%	132	0.48%	232	0.85%	-1,761	-6.42%	27,418
Medina	38,785	42.65%	50,418	55.45%	838	0.92%	326	0.36%	564	0.62%	-11,633	-12.80%	90,931
Meigs	4,027	39.41%	5,895	57.69%	111	1.09%	70	0.69%	115	1.13%	-1,868	-18.28%	10,218
Mercer	4,745	21.89%	16,561	76.40%	142	0.66%	83	0.38%	145	0.67%	-11,816	-54.51%	21,676
Miami	16,383	31.50%	34,606	66.53%	554	1.07%	144	0.28%	327	0.63%	-18,223	-35.03%	52,014
Monroe	3,035	44.75%	3,548	52.31%	48	0.71%	47	0.69%	104	1.54%	-513	-7.56%	6,782
Montgomery	137,139	51.42%	124,841	46.81%	2,548	0.96%	775	0.29%	1,404	0.53%	12,298	4.61%	266,707
Morgan	2,814	45.86%	3,179	51.81%	42	0.68%	27	0.44%	74	1.21%	-365	-5.95%	6,136
Morrow	5,933	36.59%	9,865	60.83%	174	1.07%	79	0.49%	166	1.02%	-3,932	-24.24%	16,217
Muskingum	17,002	45.73%	19,264	51.81%	352	0.95%	185	0.50%	376	1.00%	-2,262	-6.08%	37,179
Noble	2,131	36.17%	3,563	60.48%	62	1.05%	44	0.75%	91	1.54%	-1,432	-24.31%	5,891
Ottawa	11,503	51.11%	10,538	46.83%	220	0.98%	97	0.43%	147	0.65%	965	4.28%	22,505
Paulding	3,538	38.67%	5,354	58.51%	101	1.10%	48	0.52%	109	1.19%	-1,816	-19.84%	9,150
Perry	7,033	46.82%	7,627	50.78%	120	0.80%	76	0.51%	164	1.10%	-594	-3.96%	15,020
Pickaway	9,684	40.09%	14,037	58.11%	206	0.85%	74	0.31%	153	0.63%	-4,353	-18.02%	24,154
Pike	5,684	49.02%	5,685	49.03%	77	0.66%	44	0.38%	106	0.91%	-1	-0.01%	11,596
Portage	39,453	51.65%	35,242	46.14%	844	1.10%	316	0.41%	529	0.70%	4,211	5.51%	76,384
Preble	6,211	30.71%	13,535	66.92%	230	1.14%	82	0.41%	167	0.83%	-7,324	-36.21%	20,225
Putnam	4,318	23.47%	13,721	74.57%	160	0.87%	71	0.39%	130	0.71%	-9,403	-51.10%	18,400
Richland	22,687	39.25%	33,867	58.59%	503	0.87%	245	0.42%	504	0.87%	-11,180	-19.34%	57,806
Ross	14,569	48.31%	15,008	49.76%	223	0.74%	105	0.35%	255	0.85%	-439	-1.45%	30,160
Sandusky	14,541	49.98%	13,755	47.28%	324	1.11%	162	0.56%	313	1.07%	786	2.70%	29,095
Scioto	15,077	48.23%	15,492	49.56%	211	0.67%	154	0.49%	328	1.04%	-415	-1.33%	31,262
Seneca	11,353	44.80%	13,243	52.26%	316	1.25%	136	0.54%	295	1.17%	-1,890	-7.46%	25,343
Shelby	6,343	26.54%	17,142	71.71%	178	0.74%	75	0.31%	165	0.69%	-10,799	-45.17%	23,903
Stark	89,432	49.21%	88,581	48.74%	1,588	0.87%	732	0.40%	1,413	0.78%	851	0.47%	181,746
Summit	153,041	57.03%	111,001	41.36%	2,059	0.77%	764	0.28%	1,493	0.56%	42,040	15.67%	268,358
Trumbull	61,672	60.48%	38,279	37.54%	739	0.72%	432	0.42%	841	0.83%	23,393	22.94%	101,963
Tuscarawas	18,407	44.15%	22,242	53.35%	435	1.04%	175	0.42%	434	1.03%	-3,835	-9.20%	41,693
Union	8,805	34.36%	16,289	63.57%	280	1.09%	83	0.32%	166	0.65%	-7,484	-29.21%	25,623
Van Wert	4,029	28.99%	9,585	68.97%	95	0.68%	65	0.47%	124	0.89%	-5,556	-39.98%	13,898
Vinton	2,436	44.37%	2,856	52.02%	62	1.13%	41	0.75%	95	1.72%	-420	-7.65%	5,490
Warren	32,909	29.60%	76,564	68.85%	1,011	0.91%	220	0.20%	493	0.44%	-43,655	-39.25%	111,197
Washington	11,651	39.36%	17,284	58.39%	235	0.79%	134	0.45%	298	1.01%	-5,633	-19.03%	29,602
Wayne	19,808	38.71%	30,251	59.12%	451	0.88%	184	0.36%	471	0.93%	-10,443	-20.41%	51,165
Williams	7,266	41.04%	10,047	56.74%	148	0.84%	95	0.54%	150	0.84%	-2,781	-15.70%	17,706
Wood	32,802	51.21%	29,704	46.37%	940	1.47%	279	0.44%	334	0.52%	3,098	4.84%	64,059
Wyandot	4,137	39.02%	6,180	58.29%	99	0.93%	68	0.64%	118	1.11%	-2,043	-19.27%	10,602
Totals	2,827,709	50.58%	2,661,437	47.60%	49,493	0.89%	18,573	0.33%	33,722	0.60%	166,272	2.98%	5,590,934

County Flips:

Democratic   Hold

Republican   Hold   Gain from Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Belmont (largest city: Martins Ferry)
• Jefferson (largest city: Steubenville)
• Lake (largest city: Mentor)
• Monroe (largest city: Woodsfield)
• Tuscarawas (largest city: New Philadelphia)

By congressional district

Despite losing the state, Romney won 12 of 16 congressional districts.^[22]

District	Romney	Obama	Representative
1st	52.4%	46.26%	Steve Chabot
2nd	54.75%	43.66%	Brad Wenstrup
3rd	28.9%	69.65%	Joyce Beatty
4th	55.98%	42%	Jim Jordan
5th	53.88%	44.1%	Bob Latta
6th	55.2%	42.67%	Bill Johnson
7th	53.71%	44.23%	Bob Gibbs
8th	61.9%	36.45%	John Boehner
9th	30.87%	67.55%	Marcy Kaptur
10th	50.14%	48.23%	Mike Turner
11th	16.55%	82.74%	Marcia Fudge
12th	54.37%	43.9%	Pat Tiberi
13th	35.42%	62.95%	Tim Ryan
14th	50.89%	47.58%	David Joyce
15th	51.86%	46.34%	Steve Stivers
16th	53.35%	45.19%	Jim Renacci

Analysis

Obama's victory in Ohio was enough to push him over the 270 electoral vote line allowing him to win the election. At first the Romney campaign contested the call, but conceded at about 1:00 A.M. President Obama's victory in the state can be attributed to several factors; he only won 17 out of Ohio's 88 counties. However, those 17 counties combined account for 56.56% of its total population.^[23] Romney did do well in most rural areas of the state, particularly in western Ohio. Romney also won all but one county in the Appalachia region, becoming the first Republican since Richard Nixon’s 2,900-plus-county landslide in 1972 to carry Belmont, Jefferson and Monroe Counties, and losing only Athens County, home of Ohio University. He also managed to flip the swing counties of Lake and Tuscarawas. Romney also did well in the northern Columbus suburbs. For Romney, most of his wins came from smaller populated counties. Obama won by comfortable margins in Franklin, Hamilton, and Lucas counties, home to the cities of Columbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo, respectively. Obama's greatest support came from northeast Ohio, centered in Cuyahoga and Summit counties, home to the cities of Cleveland and Akron, respectively, the second and fourth largest cities in the state. The surrounding Cleveland–Akron–Canton metropolitan area and the Lake Erie shore went mostly to Obama, allowing him to carry the state as a whole by a modest 2.98% margin.

In February 2013, nineteen cases of voter fraud were investigated in Hamilton County.^[24] Three individuals were charged with voter fraud the following month, with one individual alleged to have voted six times.^[25] These incidents would not have affected the outcome of the Ohio race as President Obama ultimately carried the state by 166,272 votes. Some experts believe that the popularity of the auto industry bailout put in place under President Obama helped him take the state.^[10][26]

See also

• United States presidential elections in Ohio
• 2012 United States presidential debates
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Ohio Republican Party