2012 United States presidential election in Michigan

The 2012 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Voters chose 16 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.

2012 United States presidential election in Michigan

November 6, 2012
Turnout	63% [1]
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Massachusetts Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan Electoral vote 16 0 Popular vote 2,564,569 2,115,256 Percentage 54.21% 44.71%
County Results Obama   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Romney   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Michigan was won by Democrat Barack Obama by a 9.5% margin of victory.[2] Obama received 54.21% of the vote to Romney's 44.71%. It was the sixth presidential election in a row where Michigan voted in favor of the Democratic candidate, with Republicans last carrying the state in 1988, when George H. W. Bush won in Michigan; however, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won the state in 2016. Obama's performance from 2008 significantly decreased, with his margin of victory decreasing from 16.44% to only 9.5% and losing 26 counties that he had won four years prior. Many of these counties went Democratic for the first time in decades in 2008, such as Berrien County which hadn't voted for a Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. The state's Republican trend would continue, as Donald Trump ended up narrowly winning the state and flipping even more counties in 2016.

Democratic primary

The Democratic Party used a caucus system to determine the proportion of delegates awarded to Democratic candidates. The caucuses took place May 5; as the only Democratic candidate, President Obama won all 183 pledged delegates in the caucus. They, along with the other 20 unpledged delegates, voted for Obama at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Republican primary

2012 Michigan Republican primary

February 28, 2012

Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Delegate count 16 14 Popular vote 409,522 377,372 Percentage 41.10% 37.87%   Candidate Ron Paul Newt Gingrich Home state Texas Georgia Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 115,911 65,027 Percentage 11.63% 6.53%

Michigan results by county   Mitt Romney   Rick Santorum

The Republican primary took place on February 28, 2012,[3] the same day as the Arizona Republican primary. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won both of these elections.

This Michigan election used a semi-open primary system (which the state referred to as "closed") in which each voter made a public declaration at their election site and received the ballot for the appropriate party, rather than the fully open system used in the past.[4] The state had 7,286,556 registered voters as of February 15, and delegates were awarded proportionately.[5]

Michigan was given 59 delegates to the Republican (GOP) national convention, but that number was reduced to 30 as a penalty for bringing the election date forward before March 6 as the GOP rules set.[3] The candidate with the greatest number of votes in each of the 14 congressional districts will receive that district's two delegates. Two additional delegates for Michigan were announced by the media to be given proportionally before the election[3] but after the election the Michigan GOP announced there had been an error in the memo published and that the two delegates will be given to the winner, which sparked accusations of Mitt Romney rigging the results from Rick Santorum's team.[6]

Polling

Campaign

While Romney has close ties to Michigan, where he was born and grew up and his father was the Governor, Santorum, who once trailed Romney badly in the state, had a clear lead over him in mid February after Santorum won Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri caucuses and primary on February 7. And the competition became a statistical tie between these two candidates before the primary.[7]

Since Michigan allows primary voters to declare their affiliation at the time they vote, Santorum campaign paid for robo-calls inviting Democrats to cross over and vote for him.[8] Romney called this tactic "outrageous" and "disgusting" but Santorum defended himself as not doing anything wrong but getting people to vote in an open primary.[9]

Some Democrats also urged their supporters to vote for Santorum in the Republican primary, in hopes of forcing the Republican candidates to use more resources and help make it easier for Barack Obama to win the general election.[10] This is similar to Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos", where Limbaugh urged voters in the 2008 Democratic Presidential primaries to vote for Hillary Clinton, whom he saw as being a weaker candidate than Obama.[11] Michigan has a long history of such crossover voting; in 2000, strong Democratic crossover votes helped Senator John McCain win the Michigan Republican primary.[12] In 1972, Republican crossover votes propelled Governor George Wallace to victory in the Democratic primary.[13][14]

Results

Polls closed at 8 PM local time on election day.[15] While most of the state is in the Eastern time zone (UTC −5), four counties in the Upper Peninsula are on Central time (UTC −6), so the final closures came at 9 PM Eastern time. As of 2/28, results showed Romney winning 7 congressional districts and Santorum winning 7.

2012 Michigan Republican primary[16]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Projected delegate count
			AP [17]	CNN [18]	GP [19]
Mitt Romney	409,522	41.10%	16	16	16
Rick Santorum	377,372	37.87%	14	14	14
Ron Paul	115,911	11.63%	0	0	0
Newt Gingrich	65,027	6.53%	0	0	0
Rick Perry (withdrawn)	1,816	0.18%	0	0	0
Buddy Roemer (withdrawn)	1,784	0.18%	0	0	0
Michele Bachmann (withdrawn)	1,735	0.17%	0	0	0
Jon Huntsman (withdrawn)	1,674	0.17%	0	0	0
Herman Cain (withdrawn)	1,211	0.12%	0	0	0
Fred Karger	1,180	0.12%	0	0	0
Gary Johnson (withdrawn)	458	0.05%	0	0	0
Uncommitted	18,809	1.89%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			2	0	0
Total:	996,499	100.00%	30	30	30

At the Republican state convention in May, it was reported that of the 30 voting delegates for the national convention in Tampa, 6 were Paul supporters, and 24 were Romney supporters.[20][21][22][23] Paul organizers disputed these numbers, stating that they had actually taken 8 (instead of 6) of the voting delegates, plus several non-voting slots.[24]

Delegate allocation controversy

A controversy arose over the delegate allocation in Michigan, where 28 congressional district delegates and two at-large delegates were awarded. The Republican Party of Michigan rules stated that the two at-large delegates would be awarded proportionally, meaning that Santorum and Romney would get one delegate each for a 15–15 tie. But the following day the party's credentials committee allocated both at-large delegates to Romney, saying it had changed the rules a few weeks prior to award the delegates to the statewide winner but "in error" sent a memo to the candidates saying they would be awarded proportionately.[25] Santorum's campaign protested, saying the committee's six members were mostly Romney supporters,[26] and filed a protest with the Republican National Committee. Santorum's general counsel wrote in a letter to the RNC, "It is our understanding that several public supporters and Michigan surrogates of an opposing campaign voted in favor of the delegate allocation change which assisted their chosen candidate. This request is not about the allocation of a single delegate; it is about ensuring a transparent process, avoiding unscrupulous tactics and backroom deals by establishment figures and campaigns who have not received the result they hoped for at the ballot box."[27] Committee member and former state attorney general Mike Cox endorsed Romney, but said the delegates should have been awarded 15-15: "I have this crazy idea that you follow the rules. I'd love to give the at-large delegates to Mitt Romney, but our rules provide for strict apportionment."[26]

General election

Candidate Ballot Access:

• Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican
• Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic
• Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer, US Taxpayers
• Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green
• Rocky Anderson/Luis J. Rodriguez, Natural Law

Write-In Candidate Access:

• Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Michigan[5]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	2,564,569	54.21%	16
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	2,115,256	44.71%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	21,897	0.46%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	16,119	0.34%	0
	Libertarian (Write-in)	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	7,774	0.16%	0
	Natural Law	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	5,147	0.11%	0
	Socialist (Write-in)	Stewart Alexander	Alex Mendoza	89	0.00%	0
	Socialist Equality (Write-in)	Jerry White	Phyllis Scherrer	68	0.00%	0
	America's (Write-in)	Tom Hoefling	J.D. Ellis	42	0.00%	0
Totals				4,730,961	100.00%	16
Voter turnout (registered voters) [5]						63.46%

By county

County	Obama		Romney		Others		Total votes
	%	#	%	#	%	#
Alcona	40.50%	2,472	58.50%	3,571	1.00%	61	6,104
Alger	47.90%	2,212	50.45%	2,330	1.65%	76	4,618
Allegan	39.54%	20,806	59.15%	31,123	1.31%	690	52,619
Alpena	46.73%	6,549	52.08%	7,298	1.19%	167	14,014
Antrim	38.70%	5,107	60.00%	7,917	1.30%	171	13,195
Arenac	46.79%	3,669	51.74%	4,057	1.47%	115	7,841
Baraga	45.10%	1,574	53.47%	1,866	1.43%	50	3,490
Barry	40.30%	11,491	58.41%	16,655	1.28%	366	28,512
Bay	52.22%	27,877	46.67%	24,911	1.11%	593	53,381
Benzie	47.32%	4,685	51.26%	5,075	1.42%	141	9,901
Berrien	46.16%	33,465	52.70%	38,209	1.14%	823	72,497
Branch	40.32%	6,913	58.52%	10,035	1.16%	199	17,147
Calhoun	50.18%	29,267	48.58%	28,333	1.25%	727	58,327
Cass	42.65%	9,591	56.29%	12,659	1.07%	240	22,490
Charlevoix	42.15%	5,939	56.78%	8,000	1.07%	151	14,090
Cheboygan	43.81%	5,831	54.74%	7,286	1.46%	194	13,311
Chippewa	45.62%	7,100	53.19%	8,278	1.20%	186	15,564
Clare	46.93%	6,338	51.75%	6,988	1.32%	178	13,504
Clinton	46.36%	18,191	52.63%	20,650	1.00%	394	39,235
Crawford	43.94%	2,994	54.95%	3,744	1.12%	76	6,814
Delta	46.15%	8,330	52.82%	9,534	1.03%	186	18,050
Dickinson	38.66%	4,952	60.02%	7,688	1.33%	170	12,810
Eaton	50.95%	27,913	47.82%	26,197	1.24%	678	54,788
Emmet	40.80%	7,225	57.90%	10,253	1.30%	231	17,709
Genesee	63.56%	128,978	35.39%	71,808	1.06%	2,147	202,933
Gladwin	45.78%	5,760	52.94%	6,661	1.29%	162	12,583
Gogebic	53.56%	4,058	45.46%	3,444	0.98%	74	7,576
Grand Traverse	43.49%	20,875	55.28%	26,534	1.23%	590	47,999
Gratiot	47.46%	7,610	51.39%	8,241	1.15%	184	16,035
Hillsdale	37.20%	7,106	61.40%	11,727	1.40%	267	19,100
Houghton	44.50%	6,801	53.63%	8,196	1.86%	285	15,282
Huron	42.10%	6,518	56.87%	8,806	1.03%	160	15,484
Ingham	63.21%	80,847	35.42%	45,306	1.37%	1,757	127,910
Ionia	42.77%	11,018	55.57%	14,315	1.66%	428	25,761
Iosco	46.78%	6,242	51.78%	6,909	1.45%	193	13,344
Iron	44.87%	2,687	53.84%	3,224	1.29%	77	5,988
Isabella	54.06%	13,038	44.78%	10,800	1.17%	281	24,119
Jackson	46.51%	32,301	52.27%	36,298	1.22%	847	69,446
Kalamazoo	56.06%	69,051	42.75%	52,662	1.19%	1,465	123,178
Kalkaska	39.43%	3,272	59.06%	4,901	1.52%	126	8,299
Kent	45.53%	133,408	53.22%	155,925	1.25%	3,652	292,985
Keweenaw	41.81%	582	55.60%	774	2.59%	36	1,392
Lake	52.05%	2,752	47.04%	2,487	0.91%	48	5,287
Lapeer	43.60%	18,796	55.05%	23,734	1.36%	585	43,115
Leelanau	46.39%	6,576	52.79%	7,483	0.83%	117	14,176
Lenawee	48.69%	21,776	49.98%	22,351	1.33%	597	44,724
Livingston	37.85%	37,216	61.10%	60,083	1.06%	1,038	98,337
Luce	38.17%	991	60.86%	1,580	0.96%	25	2,596
Mackinac	43.48%	2,652	55.70%	3,397	0.82%	50	6,099
Macomb	51.48%	208,016	47.49%	191,913	1.03%	4,157	404,086
Manistee	52.19%	6,473	46.26%	5,737	1.55%	192	12,402
Marquette	56.27%	18,115	42.26%	13,606	1.47%	473	32,194
Mason	46.95%	6,856	51.90%	7,580	1.15%	168	14,604
Mecosta	44.43%	7,515	54.25%	9,176	1.31%	222	16,913
Menominee	47.99%	5,242	50.94%	5,564	1.07%	117	10,923
Midland	41.79%	17,450	57.29%	23,919	0.92%	385	41,754
Missaukee	32.36%	2,274	66.39%	4,665	1.25%	88	7,027
Monroe	49.84%	36,310	48.86%	35,593	1.30%	950	72,853
Montcalm	44.95%	11,430	53.56%	13,621	1.49%	380	25,431
Montmorency	40.57%	2,049	57.97%	2,928	1.47%	74	5,051
Muskegon	58.34%	44,436	40.55%	30,884	1.11%	843	76,163
Newaygo	40.64%	8,728	58.00%	12,457	1.36%	293	21,478
Oakland	53.56%	349,002	45.51%	296,514	0.93%	6,091	651,607
Oceana	44.22%	5,063	54.49%	6,239	1.29%	148	11,450
Ogemaw	46.24%	4,791	52.48%	5,437	1.28%	133	10,361
Ontonagon	44.81%	1,586	53.86%	1,906	1.33%	47	3,539
Osceola	38.73%	3,981	59.75%	6,141	1.52%	156	10,278
Oscoda	40.99%	1,657	57.10%	2,308	1.90%	77	4,042
Otsego	39.56%	4,681	59.25%	7,011	1.18%	140	11,832
Ottawa	32.30%	42,737	66.63%	88,166	1.06%	1,409	132,312
Presque Isle	45.08%	3,192	53.59%	3,794	1.33%	94	7,080
Roscommon	47.56%	6,198	51.42%	6,701	1.02%	133	13,032
Saginaw	55.46%	54,381	43.56%	42,720	0.98%	961	98,062
St. Clair	45.81%	33,983	52.94%	39,271	1.25%	927	74,181
St. Joseph	43.32%	10,112	55.60%	12,978	1.08%	251	23,341
Sanilac	39.26%	7,212	59.68%	10,963	1.06%	194	18,369
Schoolcraft	46.07%	1,865	52.92%	2,142	1.01%	41	4,048
Shiawassee	51.06%	17,197	47.39%	15,962	1.54%	520	33,679
Tuscola	43.94%	11,425	54.76%	14,240	1.30%	338	26,003
Van Buren	49.61%	16,290	49.15%	16,141	1.24%	406	32,837
Washtenaw	67.31%	120,890	31.41%	56,412	1.28%	2,290	179,592
Wayne	73.04%	595,846	26.21%	213,814	0.76%	6,165	815,825
Wexford	41.63%	6,184	56.89%	8,450	1.47%	219	14,853

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Alger (largest city: Munising)
• Alpena (largest city: Alpena)
• Arenac (largest city: Standish)
• Benzie (largest city: Frankfort)
• Berrien (largest city: Niles)
• Cass (largest city: Dowagiac)
• Clare (largest city: Clare)
• Clinton (largest city: St. Johns)
• Delta (largest city: Escanaba)
• Gladwin (largest city: Gladwin)
• Gratiot (largest city: Alma)
• Iosco (largest city: East Tawas)
• Iron (largest city: Iron River)
• Jackson (largest city: Jackson)
• Kent (largest city: Grand Rapids)
• Leelanau (largest settlement: Greilickville)
• Lenawee (largest city: Adrian)
• Mason (largest city: Ludington)
• Menominee (largest city: Menominee)
• Oceana (largest city: Hart)
• Ogemaw (largest city: West Branch)
• Ontonagon (largest village: Ontonagon)
• Presque Isle (largest city: Rogers City)
• Roscommon (largest settlement: Houghton Lake)
• Schoolcraft (largest city: Manistique)
• St. Clair (largest city: Port Huron)

By congressional district

Obama won 5 of 14 congressional districts.[28]

District	Obama	Romney	Representative
1st	45%	53%	Dan Benishek
2nd	43%	56%	Bill Huizenga
3rd	46%	53%	Justin Amash
4th	46%	54%	Dave Camp
5th	61%	38%	Dan Kildee
6th	49%	50%	Fred Upton
7th	48%	51%	Tim Walberg
8th	48%	51%	Mike Rogers
9th	57%	42%	Sander Levin
10th	44%	55%	Candice Miller
11th	47%	52%	Kerry Bentivolio
12th	66%	33%	John Dingell
13th	85%	14%	John Conyers
14th	81%	18%	Gary Peters

Analysis

All of the local polling firms had predicted a close election here, some even giving an advantage to native Michigander Romney over Obama; however, statistician Nate Silver pointed out several problems with the local pollsters' methodology and sampling errors, instead giving more credence to the national pollsters who posited a clear victory for Obama (by a mean of 7.3 points and a median of 7.0 over Romney).[29]

In the end, Silver and the National pollsters were correct: Obama defeated Romney by over 9 points in the November 2012 election. Obama dominated the population centers that had traditionally anchored Democratic strength in the state—Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Flint—but he also retained two populous counties that had been Republican strongholds in the 1970s and 1980s, the Detroit-area suburban counties of Oakland and Macomb. Even in Kent County, which flipped back to the Republican column, Romney substantially underperformed what Bush had done in 2000 and 2004. While Romney did better in more rural areas, without better strength in some of the state's population centers, Romney was unable to flip the state.

As of 2020, this is the last time the Democratic candidate won Bay, Calhoun, Eaton, Gogebic, Isabella, Lake, Macomb, Manistee, Monroe, Shiawassee, and Van Buren counties.

Electors

Technically the voters of Michigan cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Michigan is allocated 16 electors because it has 14 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 16 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the plurality of votes in the state is awarded all 16 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 17, 2012, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state.

• Cindy Estrada of Whitmore Lake
• Steve Cook of Lake Odessa
• Dorothy Johnson of Kincheloe
• Marge Faville of Muskegon
• Marion Vanderveen of Grand Rapids
• Toni Sessoms of Weidman
• Norwood Jewell of Davison
• Jess Minks of Buchanan
• Howard Pizzo of Lansing
• Joanne Murphy of Brighton
• Peggy Ciaramitaro of Roseville
• James Winne of Washington Twp.
• Walter Sobczak of Novi
• Jane Ahern of Dearborn
• Hilliard Hampton of Inkster
• Edna Bell of Detroit[30]

See also

• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Timeline of the 2012 United States presidential election
• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Michigan Republican Party

References

1. http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_8722-29616--,00.html
2. "2012 Presidential Election – Michigan". Politico. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
3. "Michigan Republican Delegation 2012". The Green Papers. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
4. Questions and Answers: Michigan's Feb. 28, 2012 Presidential Primary (PDF), Michigan Secretary of State, 2012-02-21, retrieved 2012-03-02
5. "2012 Voter Registration Totals" (PDF). Michigan Secretary of State. February 15, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
6. "Michigan results provoke accusations, ire". CNN. March 1, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
7. "After Many Momentum Shifts, Michigan Is Too Close to Call". FiveThirtyEight. February 28, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
8. "Santorum Campaign Invites Democratic Votes In Michigan Robo-Call". ABC News. February 27, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
9. "Romney blasts Santorum for 'dirty trick' calls to Michigan Dems encouraging vote in GOP primary". Fox News. February 28, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
10. Angela Wittrock (February 28, 2012). "Yes, Michigan Democrats are voting for Rick Santorum". MLive. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
11. Jon Bershad (February 28, 2012). "Rush Limbaugh Has "No Problem" With Rick Santorum Copying His Operation Chaos Approach". Mediaite. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
12. Camia, Catalina (February 27, 2012). "Crossover voting encouraged in Mich. GOP primary". On Politics. USA Today. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
13. Mitchell, Steve (February 23, 2012). "Michigan's quirky primaries". The Detroit News. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
14. Rosenthal, Jack (May 17, 1972). "Survey Ties Issues, Not Shooting, to Wallace Victory". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
15. "What hours are the polls open on Election Day?". Michigan Secretary of State. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
17. Michigan Primary – AP
18. Michigan Primary – CNN
19. Michigan Primary – Green Papers
20. http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/viewart/20120519/NEWS01/305190027/Mich-GOP-gets-behind-Romney-convention
21. http://www.michiganradio.org/post/ron-paul-supporters-unhappy-results-michigan-republican-party-convention
22. http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/05/romney_republican_obama_conven.html
23. Anuzis, Saul [@sanuzis] (May 19, 2012). "Romney Dominates Michigan Convention winning 24 delegates to Paul's 6 delegates. MI GOP fired up to help elect President Romney!" (Tweet). Retrieved January 5, 2021 – via Twitter.
24. http://m.detnews.com/updates/article?a=2012205190368&f=1208%5B%5D
25. Mitt Romney gets Michigan's at-large delegates
26. Republican discord continues, national GOP to investigate Michigan party leaders?
27. Rick Santorum files protest over Michigan delegates
28. http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/11/2012_election_results_presiden.html
29. Nate Silver (August 28, 2012). "Aug. 27: Michigan Isn't a Tossup". The New York Times. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
30. Ms. Bell submitted a letter of resignation dated November 15, 2012 to Governor Rick Snyder. Pursuant to MCL 168.47, the vacancy was filled when the electors met on December 17.

External links

• The Green Papers: for Michigan
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order.