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.
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. Obama's performance was a decline from 2008 when he won the state by a 4.59% margin over U.S. Senator John McCain, and he narrowly lost five counties that he won in 2008. 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, 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. Ohio is also one of only three states that backed Obama twice that would go on to vote against his vice president Joe Biden in 2020, the other two being Florida and Iowa.
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
The 2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary took place on March 6, 2012.
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.
2012 Ohio Republican presidential primary A spreadsheet of the results can be downloaded directly from the Ohio Secretary of State website.CandidateVotesPercentageEstimated 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. 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: Withdrewprior 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.
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. Romney visited the state 51 times, while Obama visited 22 times. 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.
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
Results 2012 United States presidential election in OhioPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votesDemocraticBarack Obama (incumbent)Joe Biden (incumbent)2,827,70950.58%18RepublicanMitt RomneyPaul Ryan 2,661,437 47.60% 0LibertarianGary JohnsonJim Gray 49,493 0.89% 0GreenJill SteinCheri Honkala 18,573 0.33% 0Independent Richard Duncan Ricky Johnson 12,502 0.22% 0ConstitutionVirgil GoodeJim Clymer 8,152 0.15% 0SocialistStewart AlexanderAlex Mendoza 2,967 0.05% 0 Others 23 0.00% 0Totals5,590,934100.00%18 Voter turnout (registered voters) 70.54%
By county