2012 Presidential Election Results: How Obama Beat Romney

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President Barack Obama beat former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential election. (Getty)

The 2012 Presidential Election saw President Barack Obama win re-election against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, with 332 electoral votes and 51.1 percent of the popular vote. Obama became the third-consecutive president to win a second term, the first time that happened since 1820.

The 2012 results looked similar to 2008, as only two states switched parties. In 2008, Obama won North Carolina and Indiana, but they both went for Romney in 2012. Also in 2008, Obama won Nebraska’s second Congressional district, but he lost that vote in 2012.

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The 2012 Electoral College results. (270towin.com)

In the 2012 election, Romney easily beat Obama among men, 52-45 percent, notes Roper Center statistics. However, men made up 47 percent of the electorate and Obama won Women 55-44 percent.

Obama also succeeded among minority groups. He won 93 percent of the African-American vote, as well as 71 percent of the Hispanic vote. Hispanic voters made up 10 percent of the 2012 electorate, and that is expected to grow in the 2016 election.

The 2012 election also showed massive division between the political parties, as only a few voted for the other party’s candidate. Ninety-two percent of Democrats voted for Obama, while 93 percent of Republicans voted for Romney.

Obama was only the second president and first since Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to win re-election with less electoral votes than what he earned in his first election. In 2008, Obama won with 365 electoral votes and 52.9 percent of the popular vote.

In 2016, Obama did not see Hillary Clinton become president. If Clinton had won, it would have been the first time a single party had won three consecutive presidential terms since Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Although initial results showed that Trump received less votes than Romney’s 60,933,504 total popular vote, the most recent results of the 2016 presidential election show that Trump exceeded Romney’s total. Trump received 62,979,636 votes, about 3 million less than his rival, Hillary Clinton. Trump still won though, with 306 electoral votes.


States Won by Obama – 332 Electoral Votes & 51.1 Percent of the Popular Vote

Maine (4 electoral votes)
New Hampshire (4)
Vermont (3)
Massachusetts (11)
Rhode Island (4)
Connecticut (7)
New York (20)
New Jersey (14)
Pennsylvania (20)
Delaware (3)
Maryland (10)
Washington, D.C. (3)
Virginia (13)
Florida (29)
Ohio (18)
Michigan (16)
Wisconsin (10)
Illinois (20)
Minnesota (10)
Iowa (6)
Colorado (9)
New Mexico (5)
Washington 12)
Oregon (7)
Nevada (6)
California (55)
Hawaii (4)

States Won by Romney – 206 Electoral Votes & 47.2 Percent of the Popular Vote

West Virginia (5)
North Carolina (15)
South Carolina (9)
Georgia (16)
Indiana (11)
Kentucky (8)
Tennessee (11)
Alabama (9)
Mississippi (6)
Missouri (10)
Arkansas (6)
Louisiana (8)
North Dakota (3)
South Dakota (3)
Nebraska (5)
Kansas (6)
Oklahoma (7)
Texas (38)
Montana (3)
Wyoming (3)
Utah (6)
Arizona (11)
Idaho (4)
Alaska (3)