2012 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 2012 United States presidential election in Ohio 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. Ohio voters chose 18 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. This election continued Ohio's bellwether streak, as the state voted for the winner of the presidency in every election from 1964 to 2016.
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| Turnout | 70.54% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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County Results
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| Elections in Ohio |
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President Obama won the popular vote in Ohio with 50.58% of the vote over Mitt Romney in second place at 47.60%, a Democratic victory margin of 2.98%. Obama's performance was a decline from 2008 when he won the state by a 4.58% margin over U.S. Senator John McCain, and he narrowly lost five counties that he won in 2008. However, he narrowly improved his margins in Cuyahoga County and Franklin County, home to the second largest city, Cleveland, and the state's capital and largest city, Columbus, respectively and greatly improved his losing margin in Ross County home to the state's 1st and 3rd capital Chillicothe, allowing him to carry the state. Obama became the first Democrat to win the White House without Belmont County since Grover Cleveland in 1892, as well as the first to win without neighboring Jefferson County since Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and the first to win without Monroe or Tuscarawas Counties since John F. Kennedy in 1960.
As of the 2020 United States presidential election, this is the last time the Democratic presidential nominee won Ohio, as well as the last time Ashtabula County, Erie County, Ottawa County, Portage County, Sandusky County, Stark County, Trumbull County, and Wood County, have voted Democratic in a presidential election. This is also the most recent election where Ohio voted to the right of Iowa and to the left of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.