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| Elections in South Dakota | ||||||||||||||||
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 2012 U.S. presidential election |
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| Democratic Party |
| Republican Party |
| Minor parties |
| Related races |
The2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus theDistrict of Columbia participated.South Dakota voters chose three electors to represent them in theElectoral College via a popular vote pittingincumbentDemocraticPresidentBarack Obama and his running mate,Vice PresidentJoe Biden, againstRepublican challenger and formerMassachusetts GovernorMitt Romney and his running mate,CongressmanPaul Ryan.
Prior to the election, all seventeen news organizations making predictions for the election considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safered state. South Dakota has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee sinceLyndon B. Johnson carried it in his 44-state landslide in1964. South Dakota, just as all of the other states in the Great Plains, is among the most Republican states in the country. According to a 2012Gallup poll, South Dakota is the 9th most conservative state in the country, with Republicans having an 11 percentage point advantage over Democrats in terms of party affiliation or identification.[1] It is also the 10th whitest state in the country as of 2012, at 83.8%,[2] and has the 4th highest gun ownership rate in the country at 56.6%, according toThe Washington Post.[3] Both of these voting blocs are relatively solid for the Republican Party.[4]
While Obama lost the state by only 8.41% in2008, illustrating a potential resurgence of Democratic strength among the agrarian population as seen in states such asIowa, the state was returned to the safe Republican column in 2012. Romney won South Dakota by an 18.02% margin of victory. Romney was able to win back southeast Dakota: Obama became competitive there in 2008, when he wonMinnehaha County (and many of its suburbs), home to the state's largest city ofSioux Falls, by only 587 votes.[5] Romney carried upwards of 60% of the vote in many counties, with his best performance in theWest River. He also flippedBrown County, whereAberdeen is.
Obama's best performance was in majorityNative American counties in the west of the state. He carried 93.35% of the vote inShannon County (now known as Oglala Lakota), home to thePine Ridge Reservation and theOglala Lakota tribe. The counties ofBuffalo;Dewey; andTodd, where theCrow Creek;Cheyenne River andStanding Rock; andRosebud reservations are located, respectively, also delivered great margins to the president.Clay County, home to theUniversity of South Dakota, was the only county in the southeast to vote for Obama.
As of the2024 presidential election, this is the last time in which the Democratic candidate wonCorson County,Day County,Marshall County, andRoberts County.
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 South Dakota results by county Mitt Romney (Note:Italicization indicates a withdrawn candidacy) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Republican primary took place on June 5, 2012.[6] 25 delegates will be chosen, for a total of 28 delegates to go to the national convention.
| 2012 South Dakota Republican primary | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Delegates |
| Mitt Romney | 34,033 | 66.1% | 25 |
| Ron Paul | 6,704 | 13.01% | 0 |
| Rick Santorum | 5,916 | 11.48% | 0 |
| Uncommitted | 2,797 | 5.43% | 0 |
| Newt Gingrich | 2,074 | 4.03% | 0 |
| Unpledged delegates: | 3 | ||
| Total: | 51,524 | 100.0% | 28 |
| Key: | Withdrew prior to contest |
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Huffington Post[7] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| CNN[8] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| New York Times[9] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| Washington Post[10] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| RealClearPolitics[11] | Solid R | November 6, 2012 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[12] | Solid R | November 5, 2012 |
| FiveThirtyEight[13] | Solid R | November 6, 2012 |
| 2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota[14] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | Mitt Romney | Paul Ryan | 210,610 | 57.89% | 3 | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama (incumbent) | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 145,039 | 39.87% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson | Jim Gray | 5,795 | 1.59% | 0 | |
| Constitution | Virgil Goode | Jim Clymer | 2,371 | 0.65% | 0 | |
| Totals | 363,815 | 100.00% | 3 | |||
| County[15] | Mitt Romney Republican | Barack Obama Democratic | Gary Johnson Libertarian | Virgil Goode Constitution | Margin | Total votes cast | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Aurora | 804 | 57.43% | 556 | 39.71% | 27 | 1.93% | 13 | 0.93% | 248 | 17.72% | 1,400 |
| Beadle | 4,230 | 58.24% | 2,881 | 39.67% | 107 | 1.47% | 45 | 0.62% | 1,349 | 18.57% | 7,263 |
| Bennett | 626 | 52.04% | 548 | 45.55% | 18 | 1.50% | 11 | 0.91% | 78 | 6.49% | 1,203 |
| Bon Homme | 1,830 | 59.53% | 1,167 | 37.96% | 55 | 1.79% | 22 | 0.72% | 663 | 21.57% | 3,074 |
| Brookings | 6,220 | 50.16% | 5,827 | 46.99% | 253 | 2.04% | 100 | 0.81% | 393 | 3.17% | 12,400 |
| Brown | 8,321 | 51.79% | 7,250 | 45.12% | 409 | 2.55% | 88 | 0.55% | 1,071 | 6.67% | 16,068 |
| Brule | 1,499 | 63.01% | 824 | 34.64% | 37 | 1.56% | 19 | 0.80% | 675 | 28.37% | 2,379 |
| Buffalo | 166 | 25.90% | 472 | 73.63% | 3 | 0.47% | 0 | 0.00% | -306 | -47.73% | 641 |
| Butte | 3,073 | 73.03% | 1,000 | 23.81% | 94 | 2.23% | 39 | 0.93% | 2,071 | 49.22% | 4,208 |
| Campbell | 616 | 78.27% | 153 | 19.44% | 12 | 1.52% | 6 | 0.76% | 463 | 58.83% | 787 |
| Charles Mix | 2,230 | 59.25% | 1,483 | 39.40% | 30 | 0.80% | 21 | 0.56% | 747 | 19.85% | 3,764 |
| Clark | 1,067 | 58.59% | 713 | 39.15% | 27 | 1.48% | 14 | 0.77% | 354 | 19.44% | 1,821 |
| Clay | 2,147 | 41.02% | 2,955 | 56.46% | 107 | 2.04% | 25 | 0.48% | -808 | -15.44% | 5,234 |
| Codington | 6,696 | 58.10% | 4,588 | 39.81% | 169 | 1.47% | 71 | 0.62% | 2,108 | 18.29% | 11,524 |
| Corson | 515 | 42.92% | 648 | 54.00% | 30 | 2.50% | 7 | 0.58% | -133 | -11.08% | 1,200 |
| Custer | 3,062 | 67.74% | 1,335 | 29.54% | 83 | 1.84% | 40 | 0.88% | 1,727 | 38.20% | 4,520 |
| Davison | 4,757 | 59.68% | 3,042 | 38.16% | 125 | 1.57% | 47 | 0.59% | 1,715 | 21.52% | 7,971 |
| Day | 1,320 | 45.95% | 1,497 | 52.11% | 33 | 1.15% | 23 | 0.80% | -177 | -6.16% | 2,873 |
| Deuel | 1,175 | 54.12% | 941 | 43.34% | 32 | 1.47% | 23 | 1.06% | 234 | 10.78% | 2,171 |
| Dewey | 663 | 34.99% | 1,207 | 63.69% | 15 | 0.79% | 10 | 0.53% | -544 | -28.70% | 1,895 |
| Douglas | 1,334 | 78.93% | 332 | 19.64% | 16 | 0.95% | 8 | 0.47% | 1,002 | 59.29% | 1,690 |
| Edmunds | 1,264 | 65.29% | 622 | 32.13% | 37 | 1.91% | 13 | 0.67% | 642 | 33.16% | 1,936 |
| Fall River | 2,258 | 64.22% | 1,140 | 32.42% | 75 | 2.13% | 43 | 1.22% | 1,118 | 31.80% | 3,516 |
| Faulk | 765 | 67.88% | 331 | 29.37% | 22 | 1.95% | 9 | 0.80% | 434 | 38.51% | 1,127 |
| Grant | 2,034 | 56.41% | 1,493 | 41.40% | 48 | 1.33% | 31 | 0.86% | 541 | 15.01% | 3,606 |
| Gregory | 1,507 | 70.06% | 599 | 27.85% | 31 | 1.44% | 14 | 0.65% | 908 | 42.21% | 2,151 |
| Haakon | 940 | 86.08% | 138 | 12.64% | 8 | 0.73% | 6 | 0.55% | 802 | 73.44% | 1,092 |
| Hamlin | 1,803 | 64.55% | 921 | 32.98% | 47 | 1.68% | 22 | 0.79% | 882 | 31.57% | 2,793 |
| Hand | 1,242 | 67.21% | 575 | 31.11% | 21 | 1.14% | 10 | 0.54% | 667 | 36.10% | 1,848 |
| Hanson | 1,627 | 67.34% | 760 | 31.46% | 16 | 0.66% | 13 | 0.54% | 867 | 35.88% | 2,416 |
| Harding | 638 | 86.33% | 82 | 11.10% | 16 | 2.17% | 3 | 0.41% | 556 | 75.23% | 739 |
| Hughes | 5,219 | 64.00% | 2,786 | 34.16% | 107 | 1.31% | 43 | 0.53% | 2,433 | 29.84% | 8,155 |
| Hutchinson | 2,451 | 71.56% | 923 | 26.95% | 25 | 0.73% | 26 | 0.76% | 1,528 | 44.61% | 3,425 |
| Hyde | 531 | 72.44% | 189 | 25.78% | 11 | 1.50% | 2 | 0.27% | 342 | 46.66% | 733 |
| Jackson | 661 | 59.76% | 426 | 38.52% | 9 | 0.81% | 10 | 0.90% | 235 | 21.24% | 1,106 |
| Jerauld | 538 | 53.48% | 452 | 44.93% | 11 | 1.09% | 5 | 0.50% | 86 | 8.55% | 1,006 |
| Jones | 490 | 80.46% | 108 | 17.73% | 9 | 1.48% | 2 | 0.33% | 382 | 62.73% | 609 |
| Kingsbury | 1,451 | 55.64% | 1,092 | 41.87% | 45 | 1.73% | 20 | 0.77% | 359 | 13.77% | 2,608 |
| Lake | 3,419 | 54.40% | 2,724 | 43.34% | 98 | 1.56% | 44 | 0.70% | 695 | 11.06% | 6,285 |
| Lawrence | 7,025 | 61.85% | 3,973 | 34.98% | 262 | 2.31% | 99 | 0.87% | 3,052 | 26.87% | 11,359 |
| Lincoln | 13,611 | 62.00% | 7,982 | 36.36% | 261 | 1.19% | 98 | 0.45% | 5,629 | 25.64% | 21,952 |
| Lyman | 933 | 59.46% | 605 | 38.56% | 24 | 1.53% | 7 | 0.45% | 328 | 20.90% | 1,569 |
| Marshall | 889 | 44.74% | 1,061 | 53.40% | 29 | 1.46% | 8 | 0.40% | -172 | -8.66% | 1,987 |
| McCook | 1,655 | 63.34% | 905 | 34.63% | 33 | 1.26% | 20 | 0.77% | 750 | 28.71% | 2,613 |
| McPherson | 921 | 75.80% | 272 | 22.39% | 12 | 0.99% | 10 | 0.82% | 649 | 53.41% | 1,215 |
| Meade | 7,566 | 69.95% | 2,928 | 27.07% | 214 | 1.98% | 109 | 1.01% | 4,638 | 42.88% | 10,817 |
| Mellette | 381 | 49.54% | 375 | 48.76% | 5 | 0.65% | 8 | 1.04% | 6 | 0.78% | 769 |
| Miner | 636 | 55.79% | 479 | 42.02% | 18 | 1.58% | 7 | 0.61% | 157 | 13.77% | 1,140 |
| Minnehaha | 40,342 | 52.68% | 34,674 | 45.28% | 1,118 | 1.46% | 449 | 0.59% | 5,668 | 7.40% | 76,583 |
| Moody | 1,535 | 50.61% | 1,429 | 47.12% | 47 | 1.55% | 22 | 0.73% | 106 | 3.49% | 3,033 |
| Pennington | 28,232 | 63.49% | 15,125 | 34.02% | 816 | 1.84% | 291 | 0.65% | 13,107 | 29.47% | 44,464 |
| Perkins | 1,205 | 75.79% | 319 | 20.06% | 39 | 2.45% | 27 | 1.70% | 886 | 55.73% | 1,590 |
| Potter | 1,029 | 74.51% | 339 | 24.55% | 10 | 0.72% | 3 | 0.22% | 690 | 49.96% | 1,381 |
| Roberts | 1,883 | 44.24% | 2,302 | 54.09% | 42 | 0.99% | 29 | 0.68% | -419 | -9.85% | 4,256 |
| Sanborn | 688 | 61.70% | 389 | 34.89% | 22 | 1.97% | 16 | 1.43% | 299 | 26.81% | 1,115 |
| Shannon | 188 | 5.98% | 2,937 | 93.39% | 14 | 0.45% | 6 | 0.19% | -2,749 | -87.41% | 3,145 |
| Spink | 1,670 | 54.92% | 1,300 | 42.75% | 54 | 1.78% | 17 | 0.56% | 370 | 12.17% | 3,041 |
| Stanley | 1,063 | 69.03% | 435 | 28.25% | 33 | 2.14% | 9 | 0.58% | 628 | 40.78% | 1,540 |
| Sully | 613 | 74.94% | 186 | 22.74% | 16 | 1.96% | 3 | 0.37% | 427 | 52.20% | 818 |
| Todd | 498 | 19.94% | 1,976 | 79.13% | 11 | 0.44% | 12 | 0.48% | -1,478 | -59.19% | 2,497 |
| Tripp | 1,905 | 70.79% | 737 | 27.39% | 23 | 0.85% | 26 | 0.97% | 1,168 | 43.40% | 2,691 |
| Turner | 2,715 | 64.49% | 1,411 | 33.52% | 47 | 1.12% | 37 | 0.88% | 1,304 | 30.97% | 4,210 |
| Union | 4,698 | 61.85% | 2,782 | 36.62% | 81 | 1.07% | 35 | 0.46% | 1,916 | 25.23% | 7,596 |
| Walworth | 1,731 | 70.31% | 671 | 27.25% | 41 | 1.67% | 19 | 0.77% | 1,060 | 43.06% | 2,462 |
| Yankton | 5,495 | 55.09% | 4,226 | 42.37% | 199 | 2.00% | 54 | 0.54% | 1,269 | 12.72% | 9,974 |
| Ziebach | 314 | 41.26% | 439 | 57.69% | 6 | 0.79% | 2 | 0.26% | -125 | -16.43% | 761 |
| Totals | 210,610 | 57.89% | 145,039 | 39.87% | 5,795 | 1.59% | 2,371 | 0.65% | 65,571 | 18.02% | 363,815 |
| Democratic Hold | Republican Hold Gain from Democratic |
South Dakota has only one congressional district because of its small population compared to other states. This district, called the at-large district because it covers the entire state, is equivalent to the statewide election results.
| District | Romney | Obama | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| At-large | 57.89% | 39.87% | Kristi Noem |
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