2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania: Difference between revisions

Five counties that voted for [[Barack Obama|Obama]] in [[2008 United States presidential election|2008]] voted for [[Mitt Romney|Romney]] in 2012. This included Cambria County, which made Obama the first Democrat to win the presidency without carrying the county since [[Woodrow Wilson]] in [[1916 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|1916]]. Chester County, a [[Philadelphia|Philadelphia suburb]], also voted for Romney, though it would flip back into the Democratic column in [[2016 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|2016]]<ref>{{Cite news|date=2017-09-13|title=Pennsylvania Election Results 2016|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/pennsylvania|access-date=2020-11-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and remain there in [[2020 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|2020]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Pennsylvania Election Results|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|date=3 November 2020 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-pennsylvania.html|access-date=2020-11-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Obama became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying [[Elk County, Pennsylvania|Elk County]] since [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in [[1940 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|1940]], and the first to do so without carrying [[Carbon County, Pennsylvania|Carbon County]] since [[John F. Kennedy]] in [[1960 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|1960]]. As of the [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 presidential election]], this is the last time that [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]] voted for the Republican candidate and the last time that [[Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Luzerne County]] voted for the Democratic candidate. This is also the last time Pennsylvania voted more Democratic than the nation as a whole.

 

Incumbent [[Barack Obama]] ran unopposed on the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] primary ballot.<ref name=PrimaryResults/> He received 616,102 votes.<ref name=PrimaryResults/> There were 19,082 [[Write-in candidate|write-in votes]].<ref name=PrimaryWriteIn>{{Cite web|url=http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_160329_1265843_0_0_18/2012WRITEINS.pdf|title=2012 General Primary Write-in Totals|publisher=Pennsylvania Department of State|access-date=October 18, 2012|year=2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061002/http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_160329_1265843_0_0_18/2012WRITEINS.pdf|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name=GreenPapersD>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/PA-D|title=2012 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions: Pennsylvania Democrat|work=The Green Papers|year=2012|access-date=October 18, 2012}}</ref> In the floor vote taken at the [[2012 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]], 242 Pennsylvania delegates voted for Obama,<ref name=GreenPapersD/> while the other 8 of the state's 250 allocated votes were not announced.<ref name=GreenPapersD/>

 

Four candidates were on the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] primary ballot: [[Mitt Romney]], former [[United States Senate|Senator]] from Pennsylvania [[Rick Santorum]], [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from [[Texas]] [[Ron Paul]], and former [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Newt Gingrich]].<ref name=PrimaryResults/> His home state was set to be the make-or-break primary for Santorum.<ref name=SantorumMakeOrBreak>{{Cite news|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|title=Santorum meets with conservatives as Romney, in Pa., looks to the fall|first1=Thomas|last1=Fitzgerald|first2=Amy|last2=Worden|date=April 6, 2012|page=A1}}</ref> He had just lost 3 primaries to Romney, and Romney appeared poised to become the presumptive nominee by achieving a prohibitive lead.<ref name=SantorumMakeOrBreak/>