The 2012 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Georgia voters chose 16 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.
Romney won Georgia by a 7.82% margin, an improvement from 2008 when John McCain won by 5.20%. Romney received 53.19% of the vote to Obama's 45.39%. Early County flipped from supporting the Republican candidate to the Democratic candidate, while Chattahoochee County flipped from the Democratic column to the Republican column.
Obama is the only Democrat to ever win two terms without carrying the state at least once, and relatedly the first Democrat since Martin Van Buren to never win Georgia in two elections regardless of the nationwide outcome. Georgia is also one of only two states that voted against Obama in both 2008 and 2012 that his vice president Joe Biden would go on to win in 2020, the other being Arizona.
As of 2024, this is the last time a Democratic presidential nominee won the rural Black Belt counties of Baker, Dooly, Early, Peach, Quitman, and Twiggs; and the last time that the suburban Atlanta counties of Gwinnett, Henry, and Cobb would vote Republican in a presidential race. This is also the last time that Georgia has backed the losing candidate in a presidential election and the last time a Democrat won the presidency without winning Georgia.
Primary elections Democratic primary Incumbent president Barack Obama was unopposed in the Georgia primary, therefore winning all of the state's delegates.
Republican primary
The 2012 Georgia Republican primary took place on March 6, 2012.
Georgia has 76 delegates to the Republic National Convention. The three super delegates are awarded winner-take-all to the statewide winner. Thirty-one delegates are awarded proportionately among candidates winning at least 20% of the vote statewide. Another 42 delegates are allocated by congressional district, 3 delegates for each district. If a candidate obtains a majority in a district, they win all 3 delegates; if no majority is won, the delegates are split 2 and 1 between the top two candidates, respectively.
Georgia Republican primary, 2012CandidateVotesPercentageEstimated national delegates Georgia Republican Delegation 2012 The Green Papers. Retrieved March 15, 2012. Newt Gingrich425,39547.2%54Mitt Romney 233,611 25.9% 19Rick Santorum 176,259 19.6% 3Ron Paul 59,100 6.6% 0Jon Huntsman Jr. 1,813 0.2% 0Michele Bachmann 1,714 0.2% 0Rick Perry 1,696 0.2% 0Buddy Roemer 1,142 0.13% 0Gary Johnson 740 0.08% 0 Undecided or Other 0Totals901,470100.0%76
Key:Withdrew prior to contest.
General election Predictions SourceRankingAs ofHuffington PostNovember 6, 2012CNNNovember 6, 2012 The New York Times November 6, 2012The Washington PostNovember 6, 2012RealClearPoliticsNovember 6, 2012Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2012FiveThirtyEightNovember 6, 2012
Candidate ballot access Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian Write-in candidate access: Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer, Constitution Rocky Anderson/Luis J. Rodriguez, Justice
Results Out of a total of 6,066,961 registered voters at the time of the presidential election, turnout for the general election was 3,908,369, or 64.42% of registered voters.
United States presidential election in Georgia, 2012PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votesRepublicanMitt RomneyPaul Ryan2,078,68853.19%16DemocraticBarack Obama (incumbent)Joe Biden (incumbent) 1,773,827 45.39% 0LibertarianGary JohnsonJim Gray 45,324 1.16% 0Green (Write-in)Jill SteinCheri Honkala 1,516 0.04% 0Constitution (Write-in)Virgil GoodeJim Clymer 432 0.01% 0Justice (Write-in)Rocky AndersonLuis J. Rodriguez 154 0.00% 0 Other Write-ins Other Write-ins 109 0.00% 0Totals3,900,050100.00%16 Voter turnout (registered voters) 71.36%
By county