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The 2012 United States presidential election in Nebraska 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 five 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.

Mitt Romney carried Nebraska, taking 59.80% of the vote to Barack Obama's 38.03%, a margin of 21.77%. Nebraska is one of two states (along with Maine) which splits its electoral votes based on the winner in each congressional district. In 2012, Romney won all 3 congressional districts, thus winning all 5 of the state's electoral votes. This was a change from 2008, when the state as a whole had voted for Republican John McCain but Democrat Barack Obama still won an electoral vote from the state. Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, home to Omaha, had split with the rest of the state and awarded one of Nebraska's electoral votes to a Democratic presidential nominee for the first time since 1964. Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, Indiana, and North Carolina were the only sources of electoral votes won by Obama in 2008 that Romney managed to flip. Obama only won a single county, Thurston, largely due to its majority and increasingly politically active Native American population. He also narrowly lost three of four counties he won in 2008: Douglas, Lancaster, and Saline, home to the cities of Omaha, Lincoln, and Crete, respectively. He became the first Democrat since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to win without carrying Saline County.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that the Democrat won Thurston County and the Republican won Douglas or Lancaster County. This is also the last election when both Nebraska's 2nd congressional district did not back the overall winner of the Electoral College (and the sole time that would occur since 2000) and while the Democratic candidate would win the general election without carrying the district.

Primary elections

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary was not held as Barack Obama ran unopposed and had secured enough delegates for nomination.[1]

Republican primary

The Republican primary was on May 15, 2012.[2] This primary was purely of an advisory nature. From June 1 to June 10 caucuses county conventions caucused to elect delegates to the state convention. These delegates were not bound to vote for any candidate, but at the state convention on July 14, elected 32 bound National delegates. 3 party leaders attended the National Convention unbound, making a total of 35 voting delegates going to the national convention from Nebraska.

2012 Nebraska Republican primary
Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates
Mitt Romney 131,436 70.89% 30
Rick Santorum 25,830 13.93% 0
Ron Paul 18,508 9.98% 2
Newt Gingrich 9,628 5.19% 0
Unpledged delegates: 3
Total: 185,402 100.0% 35
Key: Withdrew prior to contest

Convention

The State Convention was held in Grand Island on July 14, 2012.

Convention Results[3][4]
Candidate 1st 2nd 3rd State Party
leaders
Total
Mitt Romney 3 1 3 23 2 32
Ron Paul 0 2 0 0 0 2
Unknown 0 0 0 0 1 1
Total 9 23 3 35

General election

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Mitt Romney Paul Ryan 475,064 59.80% 5
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 302,081 38.03% 0
Libertarian Gary Johnson Jim Gray 11,109 1.40% 0
Write-Ins 3,717 0.47% 0
Independent Randall Terry Missy Smith 2,408 0.30% 0
Totals 794,379 100.00% 5

By county

County Mitt Romney
Republican
Barack Obama
Democratic
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total
# % # % # % # %
Adams 8,316 65.64% 4,062 32.06% 292 2.30% 4,254 33.58% 12,670
Antelope 2,596 80.32% 571 17.67% 65 2.01% 2,025 62.65% 3,232
Arthur 227 86.64% 30 11.45% 5 1.91% 197 75.19% 262
Banner 346 84.18% 55 13.38% 10 2.44% 291 70.80% 411
Blaine 268 88.45% 29 9.57% 6 1.98% 239 78.88% 303
Boone 2,138 76.19% 615 21.92% 53 1.89% 1,523 54.27% 2,806
Box Butte 2,869 60.98% 1,692 35.96% 144 3.06% 1,177 25.02% 4,705
Boyd 873 81.51% 188 17.55% 10 0.94% 685 63.96% 1,071
Brown 1,302 83.73% 224 14.41% 29 1.86% 1,078 69.32% 1,555
Buffalo 13,570 69.76% 5,365 27.58% 518 2.66% 8,205 42.18% 19,453
Burt 2,029 60.12% 1,291 38.25% 55 1.63% 738 21.87% 3,375
Butler 2,738 70.95% 1,045 27.08% 76 1.97% 1,693 43.87% 3,859
Cass 7,556 62.04% 4,367 35.85% 257 2.11% 3,189 26.19% 12,180
Cedar 3,278 75.63% 958 22.10% 98 2.27% 2,320 53.53% 4,334
Chase 1,584 84.84% 254 13.60% 29 1.56% 1,330 71.24% 1,867
Cherry 2,557 83.45% 436 14.23% 71 2.32% 2,121 69.22% 3,064
Cheyenne 3,449 74.19% 1,084 23.32% 116 2.49% 2,365 50.87% 4,649
Clay 2,232 75.74% 667 22.63% 48 1.63% 1,565 53.11% 2,947
Colfax 2,051 66.83% 969 31.57% 49 1.60% 1,082 35.26% 3,069
Cuming 2,876 72.33% 1,031 25.93% 69 1.74% 1,845 46.40% 3,976
Custer 4,296 78.14% 1,083 19.70% 119 2.16% 3,213 58.44% 5,498
Dakota 3,094 50.42% 2,922 47.62% 120 1.96% 172 2.80% 6,136
Dawes 2,478 66.47% 1,132 30.36% 118 3.17% 1,346 36.11% 3,728
Dawson 5,460 69.47% 2,199 27.98% 200 2.55% 3,261 41.49% 7,859
Deuel 763 75.02% 215 21.14% 39 3.84% 548 53.88% 1,017
Dixon 1,745 64.97% 870 32.39% 71 2.64% 875 32.58% 2,686
Dodge 8,995 60.17% 5,673 37.95% 282 1.88% 3,322 22.22% 14,950
Douglas 113,220 50.56% 106,456 47.54% 4,251 1.90% 6,764 3.02% 223,927
Dundy 792 80.41% 176 17.87% 17 1.72% 616 62.54% 985
Fillmore 2,007 69.71% 807 28.03% 65 2.26% 1,200 41.68% 2,879
Franklin 1,112 72.40% 384 25.00% 40 2.60% 728 47.40% 1,536
Frontier 1,007 77.16% 271 20.77% 27 2.07% 736 56.39% 1,305
Furnas 1,782 79.55% 423 18.88% 35 1.57% 1,359 60.67% 2,240
Gage 5,513 57.06% 3,903 40.40% 245 2.54% 1,610 16.66% 9,661
Garden 829 75.99% 242 22.18% 20 1.83% 587 53.81% 1,091
Garfield 769 81.81% 149 15.85% 22 2.34% 620 65.96% 940
Gosper 734 75.05% 230 23.52% 14 1.43% 504 51.53% 978
Grant 322 88.71% 30 8.26% 11 3.03% 292 80.45% 363
Greeley 820 69.20% 340 28.69% 25 2.11% 480 40.51% 1,185
Hall 12,646 62.51% 7,161 35.40% 422 2.09% 5,485 27.11% 20,229
Hamilton 3,600 73.91% 1,146 23.53% 125 2.56% 2,454 50.38% 4,871
Harlan 1,395 78.46% 354 19.91% 29 1.63% 1,041 58.55% 1,778
Hayes 476 88.31% 51 9.46% 12 2.23% 425 78.85% 539
Hitchcock 1,178 78.80% 274 18.33% 43 2.87% 904 60.47% 1,495
Holt 3,922 79.41% 882 17.86% 135 2.73% 3,040 61.55% 4,939
Hooker 330 83.54% 59 14.94% 6 1.52% 271 68.60% 395
Howard 1,890 65.85% 914 31.85% 66 2.30% 976 34.00% 2,870
Jefferson 2,166 62.86% 1,195 34.68% 85 2.46% 971 28.18% 3,446
Johnson 1,225 59.38% 790 38.29% 48 2.33% 435 21.09% 2,063
Kearney 2,349 73.87% 773 24.31% 58 1.82% 1,576 49.56% 3,180
Keith 3,044 75.01% 928 22.87% 86 2.12% 2,116 52.14% 4,058
Keya Paha 393 81.20% 80 16.53% 11 2.27% 313 64.67% 484
Kimball 1,235 73.21% 395 23.41% 57 3.38% 840 49.80% 1,687
Knox 2,885 71.48% 1,059 26.24% 92 2.28% 1,826 45.24% 4,036
Lancaster 62,434 49.02% 62,015 48.69% 2,906 2.29% 419 0.33% 127,355
Lincoln 10,728 68.53% 4,450 28.43% 477 3.06% 6,278 40.10% 15,655
Logan 356 82.60% 68 15.78% 7 1.62% 288 66.82% 431
Loup 290 81.01% 62 17.32% 6 1.67% 228 63.69% 358
Madison 10,062 72.47% 3,485 25.10% 338 2.43% 6,577 47.37% 13,885
McPherson 237 81.44% 41 14.09% 13 4.47% 196 67.35% 291
Merrick 2,490 71.37% 925 26.51% 74 2.12% 1,565 44.86% 3,489
Morrill 1,681 76.76% 455 20.78% 54 2.46% 1,226 55.98% 2,190
Nance 1,106 68.23% 481 29.67% 34 2.10% 625 38.56% 1,621
Nemaha 2,012 62.60% 1,128 35.10% 74 2.30% 884 27.50% 3,214
Nuckolls 1,574 71.84% 568 25.92% 49 2.24% 1,006 45.92% 2,191
Otoe 4,258 60.99% 2,561 36.68% 163 2.33% 1,697 24.31% 6,982
Pawnee 899 67.04% 400 29.83% 42 3.13% 499 37.21% 1,341
Perkins 1,135 81.42% 238 17.07% 21 1.51% 897 64.35% 1,394
Phelps 3,400 77.63% 880 20.09% 100 2.28% 2,520 57.54% 4,380
Pierce 2,707 78.90% 637 18.57% 87 2.53% 2,070 60.33% 3,431
Platte 10,061 74.68% 3,148 23.37% 264 1.95% 6,913 51.31% 13,473
Polk 1,890 76.92% 528 21.49% 39 1.59% 1,362 55.43% 2,457
Red Willow 3,891 78.83% 952 19.29% 93 1.88% 2,939 59.54% 4,936
Richardson 2,443 65.34% 1,191 31.85% 105 2.81% 1,252 33.49% 3,739
Rock 672 85.17% 103 13.05% 14 1.78% 569 72.12% 789
Saline 2,557 51.57% 2,289 46.17% 112 2.26% 268 5.40% 4,958
Sarpy 43,213 60.45% 26,671 37.31% 1,606 2.24% 16,542 23.14% 71,490
Saunders 6,770 65.65% 3,307 32.07% 235 2.28% 3,463 33.58% 10,312
Scotts Bluff 9,648 67.53% 4,327 30.29% 312 2.18% 5,321 37.24% 14,287
Seward 5,003 66.06% 2,386 31.51% 184 2.43% 2,617 34.55% 7,573
Sheridan 2,021 81.76% 390 15.78% 61 2.46% 1,631 65.98% 2,472
Sherman 927 60.59% 552 36.08% 51 3.33% 375 24.51% 1,530
Sioux 624 84.44% 101 13.67% 14 1.89% 523 70.77% 739
Stanton 1,949 73.71% 614 23.22% 81 3.07% 1,335 50.49% 2,644
Thayer 1,874 70.48% 728 27.38% 57 2.14% 1,146 43.10% 2,659
Thomas 360 88.24% 42 10.29% 6 1.47% 318 77.95% 408
Thurston 939 42.39% 1,247 56.30% 29 1.31% -308 -13.91% 2,215
Valley 1,657 75.49% 498 22.69% 40 1.82% 1,159 52.80% 2,195
Washington 6,899 67.33% 3,132 30.57% 215 2.10% 3,767 36.76% 10,246
Wayne 2,493 67.71% 1,074 29.17% 115 3.12% 1,419 38.54% 3,682
Webster 1,258 72.22% 442 25.37% 42 2.41% 816 46.85% 1,742
Wheeler 345 77.01% 93 20.76% 10 2.23% 252 56.25% 448
York 4,874 76.70% 1,373 21.61% 108 1.69% 3,501 55.09% 6,355
Totals 475,064 59.80% 302,081 38.03% 17,234 2.17% 172,983 21.77% 794,379
County Flips:

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Results by congressional district

Romney won all three of Nebraska's congressional districts.[5]

District Romney % Romney # Obama % Obama # Johnson % Johnson # Terry % Terry # Representative
1st 57.43% 152,021 40.83% 108,082 1.45% 3,847 0.28% 762 Jeff Fortenberry
2nd 52.85% 140,976 45.70% 121,889 1.27% 3,393 0.18% 469 Lee Terry
3rd 70.23% 182,067 27.82% 72,110 1.44% 3,869 0.45% 1,177 Adrian Smith

See also

References

  1. ^ "Nebraska Results". CNN. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 8, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 10, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Nebraska Republican Delegation 2012".
  5. ^ "Official Results of Nebraska General Election - November 6, 2012" (PDF). Retrieved April 16, 2013.

External links