The 2012 United States presidential election in Washington 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. Washington voters chose 12 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.

President Obama easily won the state of Washington, taking 56.16% of the vote to Mitt Romney's 41.29%, a 14.87% margin of victory. In terms of raw vote total, Obama received 1,755,396 votes to Romney's 1,290,670 votes, a 464,726 vote margin. Obama received the largest number of votes of any candidate up to that point, a record which would be broken by his then-running mate Joe Biden in 2020, when Biden broke Obama's record by 614,216 votes. Third parties collectively made up 79,450 votes, or 2.54%. Obama led in every single poll conducted, often by double digits. Washington has not voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan carried it in his 1984 landslide, and today is considered part of the Blue Wall, a bloc of 242 electoral votes that have safely voted for the Democratic nominee since 1992. Despite being a Republican-leaning swing state in the early- to mid-20th century, the rise of cultural conservatism and resistance to social liberalism in the Republican Party pushed voters in Washington, as well as many other Blue Wall states, away from the Republicans.

As of the most recent election in Washington held in 2024, this is the last time in which Cowlitz County, Grays Harbor County, Mason County, and Pacific County voted Democratic, and also the last in which Whitman County voted Republican.

Caucuses Democratic caucuses As incumbent President Barack Obama ran without opposition nationwide, the non-binding primary was canceled by the Washington State Legislature. Precinct caucuses took place on April 15, legislative district caucuses on April 28, county conventions on April 29, and congressional district caucuses on May 30. The Washington state convection took place from June 1 to 3, and according to The Green Papers, Obama ran unopposed in the caucuses, receiving 114 delegates in the Democratic National Convention floor vote. The other 6 delegates' votes were unannounced.

Republican caucuses

The Republican caucuses were held on March 3, 2012. The additional preferential primary, as held since 1992, was canceled this year for budgetary reasons, as was the one in 2004. Caucus participants, however, did not allocate national delegates to the candidates – they only elected delegates to the county conventions and took part in a nonbinding straw poll. Only the state convention from May 31 to June 2, 2012, legally pledged delegates to the national convention to specific candidates.

Results With 3,677,919 registered voters as of February 29, the turnout was 1.4%.Washington Republican – The Green Papers Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won the caucuses with a plurality, receiving 19,111 votes or 37.65%. Ron Paul, representative from Texas's 14th district, narrowly won second place with 24.81% of the vote against former Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum's 23.81%. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich placed fourth, with 5,221 votes, or 10.28%. The other 3.44% of votes were uncommitted or write-ins.

+ Washington state Republican caucuses nonbinding strawpoll Candidate Votes Percentage Mitt Romney 19,111 37.65%Ron Paul 12,594 24.81% Rick Santorum 12,089 23.81% Newt Gingrich 5,221 10.28% Uncommitted 1,656 3.26% Total Write-Ins 93 0.18% Totals 50,764 100.00%

Convention At the Republican National Convention, Romney received all 3 delegates from the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th districts. Ron Paul received 2 delegates from the 3rd district and all 3 from the 7th. The 3rd district also allocated 1 delegate to Rick Santorum. All 10 state delegates were allocated to Romney, as were the 3 superdelegates. Convention ResultsCandidate1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10thStatePartyleadersTotalMitt Romney330333033310337Ron Paul0020003000005Rick Santorum0010000000001Total3010343

General election Polling

President Obama consistently led in polling up until election day: at one point, a SurveyUSA poll conducted from September 28 to 30 had him leading by 20 points. In only two polls did Obama lead by single digits: a Public Policy Polling poll conducted October 15 to 16 had him leading by 5 points, and another conducted November 1 to 3 had him up 7. An average of all polls conducted before election day had Obama leading by 13.6 percentage points. Poll sourceDate administeredDemocrat%Republican%Lead marginSample SizeMargin of errorYouGovYouGovOctober 31 – November 3, 2012Barack Obama54%Mitt Romney40%14837 LV±--%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy PollingNovember 1–3, 2012Barack Obama53%Mitt Romney46%7932 LV±3.2%Survey USASurvey USAOctober 28–31, 2012Barack Obama54%Mitt Romney40%14555 LV±4.2%University of WashingtonOctober 18–31, 2012Barack Obama57%Mitt Romney36%21632 LV±3.9%Strategies 360Strategies 360October 17–20, 2012Barack Obama52%Mitt Romney39%13500 LV±4.4%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy PollingOctober 15–16, 2012Barack Obama50%Mitt Romney45%5574 LV±--%The Washington PollThe Washington PollOctober 1–16, 2012Barack Obama52%Mitt Romney41%11782 LV±3.5%Rasmussen ReportsRasmussen ReportsOctober 14, 2012Barack Obama55%Mitt Romney42%13500 LV±4.5%SurveyUSASurveyUSAOctober 12–14, 2012Barack Obama54%Mitt Romney40%14543 LV±4.3%SurveyUSASurveyUSASeptember 28–30, 2012Barack Obama56%Mitt Romney36%20540 LV±4.3%Rasmussen ReportsSeptember 26, 2012Barack Obama52%Mitt Romney41%11500 LV±4.5%Gravis MarketingGravis MarketingSeptember 21–22, 2012Barack Obama56%Mitt Romney39%17625 RV±4.6%ElwayElwaySeptember 9–12, 2012Barack Obama53%Mitt Romney36%17405 RV±5.0%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy PollingSeptember 7–9, 2012Barack Obama53%Mitt Romney42%11563±n/a%KING5NEWS/SurveyUSAKING5NEWS/SurveyUSASeptember 7–9, 2012Barack Obama54%Mitt Romney38%16700±4.4%

Predictions SourceRankingAs ofHuffington PostNovember 6, 2012CNNNovember 6, 2012 New York Times November 6, 2012Washington PostNovember 6, 2012RealClearPoliticsNovember 6, 2012Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2012FiveThirtyEightNovember 6, 2012

Candidate ballot access Barack Hussein Obama / Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., Democratic Willard Mitt Romney / Paul Davis Ryan, Republican Gary Earl Johnson / James Polin Gray, Libertarian Virgil Hamlin Good Jr. / James N. Clymer, Constitution Jill Ellen Stein / Cheri Lynn Honkala, Green Peta Lindsay / Yari Osorio, Socialism and Liberation James Harris / Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson / Luis Javier Rodriguez, Justice

Results

By county CountyBarack ObamaDemocraticMitt RomneyRepublicanVarious candidatesOther partiesMarginTotal#%#%#%#% Adams 1,540 32.13% 3,171 66.16% 82 1.71% -1,631 -34.03% 4,793 Asotin 4,003 40.43% 5,654 57.11% 244 2.46% -1,651 -16.68% 9,901 Benton 28,145 35.38% 49,461 62.17% 1,953 2.45% -21,316 -26.79% 79,559 Chelan 13,112 40.66% 18,402 57.06% 736 2.28% -5,290 -16.40% 32,250 Clallam 18,580 48.81% 18,437 48.43% 1,049 2.76% 143 0.38% 38,066 Clark 93,382 48.94% 92,951 48.72% 4,472 2.34% 431 0.23% 190,805 Columbia 645 28.55% 1,568 69.41% 46 2.04% -923 -40.86% 2,259 Cowlitz 22,726 50.93% 20,746 46.49% 1,148 2.57% 1,980 4.44% 44,620 Douglas 5,166 34.57% 9,425 63.08% 351 2.35% -4,259 -28.50% 14,942 Ferry 1,294 37.62% 1,995 57.99% 151 4.39% -701 -20.38% 3,440 Franklin 8,398 37.09% 13,748 60.72% 497 2.19% -5,350 -23.63% 22,643 Garfield 336 26.29% 913 71.44% 29 2.27% -577 -45.15% 1,278 Grant 8,950 32.48% 17,852 64.78% 756 2.74% -8,902 -32.30% 27,558 Grays Harbor 15,960 55.64% 11,914 41.54% 810 2.82% 4,046 14.11% 28,684 Island 21,478 51.02% 19,605 46.57% 1,016 2.41% 1,873 4.45% 42,099 Jefferson 12,739 64.24% 6,405 32.30% 685 3.45% 6,334 31.94% 19,829 King 668,004 69.07% 275,700 28.51% 23,450 2.42% 392,304 40.56% 967,154 Kitsap 67,277 54.53% 52,846 42.84% 3,244 2.63% 14,431 11.70% 123,367 Kittitas 7,949 43.75% 9,782 53.83% 440 2.42% -1,833 -10.09% 18,171 Klickitat 4,598 44.75% 5,316 51.74% 360 3.50% -718 -6.99% 10,274 Lewis 12,664 37.20% 20,452 60.08% 928 2.73% -7,788 -22.88% 34,044 Lincoln 1,673 28.49% 4,063 69.19% 136 2.32% -2,390 -40.70% 5,872 Mason 14,764 52.29% 12,761 45.20% 710 2.51% 2,003 7.09% 28,235 Okanogan 7,108 42.19% 9,221 54.74% 517 3.07% -2,113 -12.54% 16,846 Pacific 5,711 54.27% 4,499 42.75% 314 2.98% 1,212 11.52% 10,524 Pend Oreille 2,508 37.61% 3,952 59.27% 208 3.12% -1,444 -21.66% 6,668 Pierce 186,430 54.37% 148,467 43.30% 8,013 2.34% 37,963 11.07% 342,910 San Juan 7,125 67.26% 3,111 29.37% 358 3.38% 4,014 37.89% 10,594 Skagit 28,688 51.91% 25,071 45.36% 1,510 2.73% 3,617 6.54% 55,269 Skamania 2,628 48.08% 2,687 49.16% 151 2.76% -59 -1.08% 5,466 Snohomish 188,516 57.16% 133,016 40.33% 8,285 2.51% 55,500 16.83% 329,817 Spokane 102,295 45.70% 115,285 51.51% 6,250 2.79% -12,990 -5.80% 223,830 Stevens 7,762 35.03% 13,691 61.78% 708 3.19% -5,929 -26.75% 22,161 Thurston 74,037 58.27% 49,287 38.79% 3,739 2.94% 24,750 19.48% 127,063 Wahkiakum 1,094 47.69% 1,119 48.78% 81 3.53% -25 -1.09% 2,294 Walla Walla 9,768 38.90% 14,648 58.34% 692 2.76% -4,880 -19.44% 25,108 Whatcom 57,089 55.41% 42,703 41.45% 3,237 3.14% 14,386 13.96% 103,029 Whitman 8,037 46.94% 8,507 49.69% 577 3.37% -470 -2.75% 17,121 Yakima 33,217 43.15% 42,239 54.88% 1,517 1.97% -9,022 -11.72% 76,973Totals1,755,39656.16%1,290,67041.29%79,4502.54%464,72614.87%3,125,516

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Klickitat (largest city: Goldendale) Skamania (largest community: Carson) Wahkhiakum (largest community: Puget Island) Whitman (largest city: Pulman)

By congressional district President Obama won seven of ten congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.

DistrictBarack ObamaDemocraticMitt RomneyRepublicanRepresentative54.1%43.3%Jay Inslee (111th Congress)Suzan DelBene (112th Congress)59.2%38.0%Rick Larsen47.9%49.6%Jaime Herrera Beutler37.9%59.7%Doc Hastings43.7%53.5%Cathy McMorris Rodgers56.1%41.2%Norm Dicks (111th Congress)Derek Kilmer (112th Congress)79.2%18.1%Jim McDermott49.7%48.1%Dave Reichert68.3%29.6%Adam Smith56.3%41.1%Denny Heck

Analysis