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 County results Congressional district results Precinct results
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The2012 United States presidential election in South Carolina 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 Carolina voters chose 9 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.
Also on the ballot were Libertarian nominee, formerNew Mexico GovernorGary Johnson and his running mate,juristJim Gray. The left-wingGreen Party nominatedactivist andphysicianJill Stein and her running mate, anti-poverty advocateCheri Honkala. The conservativeConstitution Party nominated formerU.S. Representative fromVirginiaVirgil Goode for president, and former Chair of the Constitution Party Jim Clymer for vice president.
Romney defeated Obama in the state by 54.56% to 44.09%, a margin of 10.47%.[1] While the state is generally considered safe for the Republican Party, it remains somewhat competitive due to a highAfrican-American population, the sixth-highest in the country.[2] The majority of the Democratic vote comes from theBlack Belt, with areas such asRichland andCharleston counties, home toColumbia andCharleston respectively, providing high margins for the Democrats. However, this support is largely offset by suburban and rural white voters.[3] The state hasn't voted for a Democrat sinceJimmy Carter carried it in1976.[4] Romney also improved onJohn McCain's 8.97% margin in2008.
As of the2024 presidential election, this is the last time where the counties ofBarnwell,Calhoun,Chester,Colleton,Darlington, andMcCormick voted for the Democratic candidate.
Incumbent PresidentBarack Obama ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and easily won with more than 99% of the vote. The Democratic primary was held on January 28, 2012, one week after the Republican primary.
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 2012 U.S. presidential election | |||
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| Democratic Party | |||
| Republican Party | |||
| Minor parties | |||
| Related races | |||
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The Republican primary was held on January 21, 2012.
During the primary election campaign, the candidates ran on a platform of government reform in Washington.Domestic,foreign and economic policy emerged as the main themes in the election campaign following the onset of the2008 economic crisis, as well as policies implemented by theObama administration. This included thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act, termed "Obamacare" by its opponents, as well as government spending as a whole.
The primary has become one of several key early state nominating contests in the process of choosing the nominee of the Republican Party for the election forPresident of the United States. It has historically been more important for the Republican Party than for the Democratic Party; from its inception in 1980, until the nomination of formerMassachusetts GovernorMitt Romney in 2012, the winner of the Republican presidential primary had gone on to win the nomination.[5] As of2012, the primary has cemented its place as the "First in theSouth" primary for both parties.[6] FormerSpeaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich was declared the winner of the race as soon as polls closed, however, Mitt Romney went on to win the nomination.
The 2012 South Carolina Republican primary was tentatively scheduled to occur on February 28, 2012,[7] much later than the date in 2008, which almost immediately followed the beginning of the year in January 2008.[8] On September 29, 2011, the entire schedule of caucuses and primaries was disrupted, however, when it was announced that theRepublican Party of Florida had decided to move up its primary to January 31, in an attempt to bring attention to its own primary contest, and attract the presidential candidates to visit the state.[9] Because of the move, theRepublican National Committee decided to strip Florida of half of its delegates.[10] Also as a result, the South Carolina Republican Party, along with Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada then sought to move their primaries and caucuses back into early January.[10] All butNevada, who agreed to follow Florida,[11] confirmed their caucus and primary dates to take place throughout January, with South Carolina deciding to hold their contest on January 21, 2012.[10] It is anopen primary, meaning all registered voters can participate in the primary.[12]
Nine candidates appeared on the presidential primary ballot.[13] South Carolina had only 25 delegates up for grabs because it moved its primary to January 21. Eleven delegates were awarded for the statewide winner, Newt Gingrich, and two additional delegates were awarded to the winner of each of the seven congressional districts. Six districts were won by Gingrich, and one by Romney, giving Gingrich twelve additional delegates and Romney two delegates.[14]
There were 2,804,231 registered voters, for a turnout of 21.60%.[15]
| South Carolina Republican primary, 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Estimated national delegates |
| Newt Gingrich | 244,065 | 40.42% | 23 |
| Mitt Romney | 168,123 | 27.85% | 2 |
| Rick Santorum | 102,475 | 16.97% | 0 |
| Ron Paul | 78,360 | 12.98% | 0 |
| Herman Cain | 6,338 | 1.05% | 0 |
| Rick Perry | 2,534 | 0.42% | 0 |
| Jon Huntsman | 1,173 | 0.19% | 0 |
| Michele Bachmann | 491 | 0.08% | 0 |
| Gary Johnson | 211 | 0.03% | 0 |
| Totals | 603,770 | 100.00% | 25 |
| Key: | Withdrew prior to contest |
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Huffington Post[16] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| CNN[17] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| New York Times[18] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| Washington Post[19] | Safe R | November 6, 2012 |
| RealClearPolitics[20] | Solid R | November 6, 2012 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[21] | Solid R | November 5, 2012 |
| FiveThirtyEight[22] | Solid R | November 6, 2012 |
| United States presidential election in South Carolina, 2012 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | Mitt Romney | Paul Ryan | 1,071,645 | 54.56% | 9 | |
| Democratic | Barack Obama (incumbent) | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 865,941 | 44.09% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson | Jim Gray | 16,321 | 0.83% | 0 | |
| Green | Jill Stein | Cheri Honkala | 5,446 | 0.28% | 0 | |
| Constitution | Virgil Goode | Jim Clymer | 4,765 | 0.22% | 0 | |
| Totals | 1,964,118 | 100.00% | 9 | |||
| County | Mitt Romney Republican | Barack Obama Democratic | Various candidates Other parties | Margin | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Abbeville | 5,981 | 56.05% | 4,543 | 42.57% | 147 | 1.38% | 1,438 | 13.48% | 10,671 |
| Aiken | 44,042 | 62.59% | 25,322 | 35.99% | 999 | 1.42% | 18,720 | 26.60% | 70,363 |
| Allendale | 838 | 20.13% | 3,297 | 79.20% | 28 | 0.67% | -2,459 | -59.07% | 4,163 |
| Anderson | 48,709 | 67.45% | 22,405 | 31.03% | 1,098 | 1.52% | 26,304 | 36.42% | 72,212 |
| Bamberg | 2,194 | 31.88% | 4,624 | 67.19% | 64 | 0.93% | -2,430 | -35.31% | 6,882 |
| Barnwell | 4,659 | 46.95% | 5,188 | 52.28% | 76 | 0.77% | -529 | -5.33% | 9,923 |
| Beaufort | 42,687 | 58.24% | 29,848 | 40.72% | 762 | 1.04% | 12,839 | 17.52% | 73,297 |
| Berkeley | 38,475 | 56.42% | 28,542 | 41.85% | 1,178 | 1.73% | 9,933 | 14.57% | 68,195 |
| Calhoun | 3,707 | 47.32% | 4,045 | 51.63% | 82 | 1.05% | -338 | -4.31% | 7,834 |
| Charleston | 77,629 | 48.01% | 81,487 | 50.39% | 2,591 | 1.60% | -3,858 | -2.38% | 161,707 |
| Cherokee | 13,314 | 64.09% | 7,231 | 34.81% | 228 | 1.10% | 6,083 | 29.28% | 20,773 |
| Chester | 6,367 | 44.19% | 7,891 | 54.77% | 149 | 1.04% | -1,524 | -10.58% | 14,407 |
| Chesterfield | 8,490 | 51.16% | 7,958 | 47.96% | 146 | 0.88% | 532 | 3.20% | 16,594 |
| Clarendon | 7,071 | 43.40% | 9,091 | 55.80% | 130 | 0.80% | -2,020 | -12.40% | 16,292 |
| Colleton | 8,443 | 49.41% | 8,475 | 49.60% | 168 | 0.99% | -32 | -0.19% | 17,086 |
| Darlington | 14,434 | 47.87% | 15,457 | 51.27% | 259 | 0.86% | -1,023 | -3.40% | 30,150 |
| Dillon | 5,427 | 41.63% | 7,523 | 57.71% | 85 | 0.66% | -2,096 | -16.08% | 13,035 |
| Dorchester | 32,531 | 57.22% | 23,445 | 41.24% | 879 | 1.54% | 9,086 | 15.98% | 56,855 |
| Edgefield | 6,512 | 56.21% | 4,967 | 42.87% | 107 | 0.92% | 1,545 | 13.34% | 11,586 |
| Fairfield | 3,999 | 33.62% | 7,777 | 65.38% | 119 | 1.00% | -3,778 | -31.76% | 11,895 |
| Florence | 28,961 | 49.83% | 28,614 | 49.23% | 547 | 0.94% | 347 | 0.60% | 58,122 |
| Georgetown | 16,526 | 53.37% | 14,163 | 45.74% | 276 | 0.89% | 2,363 | 7.63% | 30,965 |
| Greenville | 121,685 | 62.99% | 68,070 | 35.23% | 3,434 | 1.78% | 53,615 | 27.76% | 193,189 |
| Greenwood | 16,348 | 57.02% | 11,972 | 41.76% | 352 | 1.22% | 4,376 | 15.26% | 28,672 |
| Hampton | 3,312 | 35.98% | 5,834 | 63.37% | 60 | 0.65% | -2,522 | -27.39% | 9,206 |
| Horry | 72,127 | 64.17% | 38,885 | 34.60% | 1,381 | 1.23% | 33,242 | 29.57% | 112,393 |
| Jasper | 4,169 | 41.60% | 5,757 | 57.45% | 95 | 0.95% | -1,588 | -15.85% | 10,021 |
| Kershaw | 16,324 | 58.41% | 11,259 | 40.29% | 363 | 1.30% | 5,065 | 18.12% | 27,946 |
| Lancaster | 19,333 | 58.33% | 13,419 | 40.49% | 392 | 1.18% | 5,914 | 17.84% | 33,144 |
| Laurens | 14,746 | 58.02% | 10,318 | 40.60% | 352 | 1.38% | 4,428 | 17.42% | 25,416 |
| Lee | 2,832 | 31.80% | 5,977 | 67.10% | 98 | 1.10% | -3,145 | -35.30% | 8,907 |
| Lexington | 76,662 | 68.07% | 34,148 | 30.32% | 1,813 | 1.61% | 42,514 | 37.75% | 112,623 |
| Marion | 5,164 | 34.46% | 9,688 | 64.65% | 134 | 0.89% | -4,524 | -30.19% | 14,986 |
| Marlboro | 3,676 | 37.31% | 6,100 | 61.91% | 77 | 0.78% | -2,424 | -24.60% | 9,853 |
| McCormick | 2,467 | 47.81% | 2,653 | 51.41% | 40 | 0.78% | -186 | -3.60% | 5,160 |
| Newberry | 9,260 | 56.63% | 6,913 | 42.28% | 178 | 1.09% | 2,347 | 14.35% | 16,351 |
| Oconee | 21,611 | 70.47% | 8,550 | 27.88% | 505 | 1.65% | 13,061 | 42.59% | 30,666 |
| Orangeburg | 12,022 | 27.93% | 30,720 | 71.37% | 299 | 0.70% | -18,698 | -43.44% | 43,041 |
| Pickens | 33,474 | 73.49% | 11,156 | 24.49% | 919 | 2.02% | 22,138 | 49.00% | 45,549 |
| Richland | 53,105 | 33.37% | 103,989 | 65.34% | 2,060 | 1.29% | -50,884 | -31.97% | 159,154 |
| Saluda | 5,135 | 59.96% | 3,328 | 38.86% | 101 | 1.18% | 1,807 | 21.10% | 8,564 |
| Spartanburg | 66,969 | 60.93% | 41,461 | 37.72% | 1,476 | 1.35% | 25,508 | 23.21% | 109,906 |
| Sumter | 19,274 | 40.74% | 27,589 | 58.32% | 446 | 0.94% | -8,315 | -17.58% | 47,309 |
| Union | 6,584 | 52.50% | 5,796 | 46.22% | 161 | 1.28% | 788 | 6.28% | 12,541 |
| Williamsburg | 4,824 | 29.59% | 11,335 | 69.52% | 145 | 0.89% | -6,511 | -39.93% | 16,304 |
| York | 59,546 | 59.42% | 39,131 | 39.05% | 1,533 | 1.53% | 20,415 | 20.37% | 100,210 |
| Totals | 1,071,645 | 54.56% | 865,941 | 44.09% | 26,532 | 1.35% | 205,704 | 10.47% | 1,964,118 |
| Democratic Hold Gain from Republican | Republican Hold |
Romney won six of seven congressional districts.[23]
| District | Romney | Obama | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 58.25% | 40.2% | Tim Scott |
| 2nd | 59.14% | 39.43% | Joe Wilson |
| 3rd | 64.55% | 33.95% | Jeff Duncan |
| 4th | 62.17% | 36.2% | Trey Gowdy |
| 5th | 55.1% | 43.62% | Mick Mulvaney |
| 6th | 28.1% | 70.9% | Jim Clyburn |
| 7th | 54.55% | 44.43% | Tom Rice |
State and district results of the2012 United States presidential election | ||
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