2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 2012 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Arkansas voters chose six 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.
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Turnout | 66.65% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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County Results
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Elections in Arkansas |
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Romney and Ryan carried Arkansas with 60.57% of the popular vote to Obama's and Biden's 36.88%, winning the state's six electoral votes. While Arkansas had been won by the Democrats as recently as 1996 by native son Bill Clinton, Obama proved a poor fit for the state, and his 23.69% margin of loss was the worst defeat for a Democratic presidential candidate in Arkansas since 1972's margin of 38.1%. Obama also was defeated by a larger margin in Arkansas than Walter Mondale in 1984.
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Woodruff County voted for the Democratic candidate. This is also the first election since 1984 where either nominee received 60% of the vote. Obama is the only Democrat to ever win two terms without carrying the state at least once.