Wikipedia

2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→‎Primaries: Clarified headers
Removed excessive trivia
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
(6 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is already sufficiently detailed; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Short description|Selection of Pennsylvania's presidential electors}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Main|2012 United States presidential election}}
Line 145:
In [[Statewide opinion polling for the 2012 United States presidential election|statewide opinion polling]], incumbent Barack Obama consistently led challenger Mitt Romney by a margin of between 2 and 12 [[percentage point]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pennsylvania: Romney vs. Obama|work=RealClearPolitics|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/pa/pennsylvania_romney_vs_obama-1891.html#polls|access-date=October 17, 2012}}</ref> Analysts rated Pennsylvania as a "likely Democratic" or "Democratic-leaning" state in the presidential race.<ref name=AnalystRatings/> On the morning of the election, polling aggregator [[FiveThirtyEight]] estimated that there was a 99% likelihood that Obama would win Pennsylvania's electoral votes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/|title=FiveThirtyEight|last=Silver|first=Nate|author-link=Nate Silver|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 8, 2012}}</ref> At the time, Pennsylvania's electoral votes had gone to the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since [[Bill Clinton]] won it in [[1992 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|1992]].<ref name=PostGazetteSept/> The average of the last three polls had Obama leading Romney 51% to 46%, which was very close to the actual result.<ref>{{cite web|title=2012 Presidential Election Polls - PA|url=https://uselectionatlas.org/POLLS/PRESIDENT/2012/polls.php?fips=42|publisher=US Election Atlas}}</ref>
 
During the summer, there was significant spending on [[Campaign advertising|political advertisements]] in Pennsylvania, by both the [[Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign|Obama campaign]] and pro-Romney groups such as [[American Crossroads|Crossroads GPS]] and [[Americans for Prosperity]].<ref name=LevyOct30>{{Cite news|title=Romney, Obama campaigns resume Pa. ad campaigns|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20121030_ap_romneyobamacampaignsresumepaadcampaigns.html|newspaper=Philly.com|date=October 30, 2012|first=Marc|last=Levy|agency=Associated Press|access-date=November 2, 2012|archive-date=November 3, 2012|archive-url=https://wwwarchive.webcitation.orgtoday/20121103015118/6Bt5X4YtU?url=http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20121030_ap_romneyobamacampaignsresumepaadcampaigns.html|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> However, because Obama maintained a consistent lead in polling, Pennsylvania came to be considered a "safe state" for Obama, and campaign advertising subsided substantially in August.<ref name=LevyOct30/> This changed in October, when pro-Romney groups [[Restore Our Future]] and [[Americans for Job Security]] spent $3 million on advertising in Pennsylvania.<ref name=LevyOct30/> Later that month, the Obama campaign and the [[Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign|Romney campaign]] both launched their own advertising campaigns in Pennsylvania.<ref name=LevyOct30/> On November 1, the [[Republican National Committee]] announced that it would spend $3 million on television ads in Pennsylvania in the final days of the campaign.<ref name=LevyNov1>{{Cite news|title=Romney, RNC splashing down in Pa. in 11th-hour bid|first=Marc|last=Levy|agency=Associated Press|access-date=November 2, 2012|date=November 1, 2012|newspaper=Deseret News|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765614482/Romney-RNC-splashing-down-in-Pa-in-11th-hour-bid.html|archive-date=March 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330113853/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765614482/Romney-RNC-splashing-down-in-Pa-in-11th-hour-bid.html|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In total, pro-Romney spending in Pennsylvania was estimated to amount to as much as $12 million, much more than Obama campaign spending.<ref name=LevyNov1/> The Obama campaign characterized the pro-Romney spending surge as "an act of sheer desperation", while the Romney campaign argued that they had a realistic chance of winning the state.<ref name=LevyNov1/> In the end, Obama carried the state by a modest margin, albeit narrower than his 2008 landslide over Senator [[John McCain]].
 
===Results===
Line 151:
{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change
| party = Democratic Party (United States)
| candidate = [[Barack Obama]] (incumbent)
| votes = 2,990,274
| percentage = 51.97
Line 927:
| {{party shading/Others}}|0.24%
| {{party shading/Democratic}} |6,160
| {{party shading/Democratic}} |4.7170%
| {{party shading/Democratic}} |131,044
|- style="text-align:center;"
Line 1,237:
 
===By congressional district===
Despite losing the state overall, Romney won 13 of the 18 congressional districts.
Despite losing the state overall, Romney won 13 of [[Pennsylvania's congressional districts|Pennsylvania's 18 congressional districts]]. This included the [[Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district|4th]] and [[Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district|12th]] districts, which at the time had [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] representing them in [[United States Congress|Congress]], though ended up electing Republicans in the [[2012 United States House of Representatives elections|House elections]].
 
{|class=wikitable
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_presidential_election_in_Pennsylvania"