The 2012 Connecticut Republican presidential primary took place on April 24, 2012. It was a closed primary, open only to Republican electors. 25 of the state's 28 delegates to the 2012 Republican National Convention were decided by the primary outcome, with the other 3 being superdelegates: the state party chairman and the state's two Republican National Committee representatives.
Mitt Romney won the primary by a wide margin, garnering two-thirds of the vote. Only 14.4% of active registered Republicans participated in the primary, the lowest turnout since the primary format was put in place in the state in 1980.
Process After switching from proportional distribution of delegates to a winner-take-all system in 1996, the Connecticut Republican Party voted in September 2011 to award delegates by a hybrid winner-take-all and proportional distribution process beginning with the 2012 primary. Of the 25 regular delegates at stake in the primary, the party called for three delegates to be awarded to the winner of each of the state's five congressional districts on a winner-take-all basis for a total of 15 delegates. The remaining 10 would be distributed proportionally based on the statewide vote total among candidates receiving at least 20% support unless a candidate won a majority of the statewide vote, in which case the candidate would receive all 10 of these delegates.
Opinion polling Poll source Date 1st 2nd 3rd OtherQuinnipiacQuinnipiacMargin of error: ±4.7%Sample size: 429 Mar. 14–19, 2012Mitt Romney42%Rick Santorum19%Newt Gingrich13%Ron Paul 9%, Won't vote 3%, Don't know/No answer 14%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy PollingMargin of error: ±4.9%Sample size: 400 Sep. 22–25, 2011Mitt Romney25%Rick Perry18%Herman Cain10% Newt Gingrich 10%, Ron Paul 10%, Michele Bachmann 8%, Jon Huntsman 3%, Rick Santorum 3%, Gary Johnson 1%, someone else/not sure 12%Mitt Romney45% Rick Perry36% – not sure 19%QuinnipiacMargin of error: ±5.4%Sample size: 332 Sep. 8–13, 2011Mitt Romney37% Rick Perry19% Michele Bachmann8%Sarah Palin 4%, Herman Cain 3%, Newt Gingrich 3%, Ron Paul 3%, Jon Huntsman 2%, Rick Santorum 1%, Thaddeus McCotter 0%, someone else/undecided 20%Public Policy PollingPublic Policy PollingMargin of error: ±7.3%Sample size: 180 Oct. 27–29, 2010Mitt Romney28%Mike Huckabee15% Newt Gingrich14% Sarah Palin 11%, Tim Pawlenty 5%, Mike Pence 5%, Mitch Daniels 4%, John Thune 2%, someone else/undecided 18%
Results With Romney's primary day wins in all five congressional districts and a majority of the statewide vote, he was able to claim all 25 of the delegates at stake. 2012 Connecticut Republican presidential primary Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates Mitt Romney 40,171 67.43% 25Ron Paul 8,032 13.48% 0Newt Gingrich 6,135 10.30% 0Rick Santorum 4,072 6.83% 0 Uncommitted 1,168 1.96% 0Unprojected delegates:0Total: 59,578 100%25
Official source reports a turnout of 59,639, with the difference from 59,578 likely due to blank ballots.
Key:Suspended campaign prior to contest
References