2012 United States presidential election in Alaska

2012 Alaska Democratic presidential caucuses
	April 14, 2012
24 Democratic National Convention delegates (19 pledged, 5 unpledged); The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote

2012 United States presidential election in Alaska
	November 6, 2012
Romney 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%	Obama 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Barack Obama; Democratic

The 2012 United States presidential election in Alaska 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. Alaska voters chose three 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.

Prior to the election, all leading news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, making Alaska a safe red state. Romney won the state of Alaska with 54.80% of the vote, while Obama received 40.81%.^[1] This was the first time since 1968 that a Democrat received more than 40% of the vote in Alaska. No Democrat has won Alaska since it was won by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Although Romney easily won its three electoral votes, it was one of six states^[a] to swing toward Obama relative to 2008, when Alaska was won with a 21.5% margin of victory by Republican nominee John McCain running with the incumbent governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his vice-presidential candidate. Obama closed his margin of defeat by 7.55% compared to his 2008 loss, thereby making it the state with the strongest Democratic gain in 2012.

Obama also flipped seven boroughs and census areas that he had lost in 2008.^[2] As of the 2024 election, this is the last election in which Haines Borough voted for the Republican candidate.

Caucuses

Democratic caucuses

The Alaska Democratic caucuses were held from April 10 to 14, 2012, with the state party convention being held from May 11 to 13.^[3] Precincts within House Districts combined to hold caucuses to pledge delegates to the State Convention. Obama ran mostly unopposed (with the exception of Randall Terry, who was on the ballot but received no votes) and consequently received all of the 500 popular votes and 24 delegates.

Republican caucuses

The Alaska Republican caucuses were held Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012.^[4]^[5]^[6] The presidential preference poll portion of the caucuses was scheduled between 4 pm and 8 pm local time (which is 8 pm to midnight EST) at locations across the state and one caucus in Washington, D.C.^[7]

Similar to the 2012 Nevada caucuses, the results of the presidential preference poll will be used to directly and proportionately apportion 24 national convention delegates among the candidates.^[8] Another 3 super delegates are unbound and not determined by the caucus results.^[9]

2012 Alaska Republican presidential caucuses^[10]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Estimated national delegates
Mitt Romney	4,285	32.42%	8
Rick Santorum	3,860	29.20%	7
Ron Paul	3,175	24.02%	6
Newt Gingrich	1,865	14.11%	3
Uncommitted	34	0.26%
Unprojected delegates:			3
Totals	13,219	100.00%	27

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Huffington Post^[11]	Safe R	November 6, 2012
CNN^[12]	Safe R	November 6, 2012
The New York Times^[13]	Safe R	November 6, 2012
The Washington Post^[14]	Safe R	November 6, 2012
RealClearPolitics^[15]	Solid R	November 6, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[16]	Solid R	November 5, 2012
FiveThirtyEight^[17]	Solid R	November 6, 2012

Candidate ballot access

Write-in candidate access

Rocky Anderson/Luis J. Rodriguez, Justice

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Alaska^[18]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	164,676	54.80%	3
	Democratic	Barack Obama (incumbent)	Joe Biden (incumbent)	122,640	40.81%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	7,392	2.46%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	2,917	0.97%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		2,870	0.96%	0
Totals				300,495	100.00%	3

Boroughs and census areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Aleutians West Census Area (largest city: Unalaska)
Dilingham Census Area (largest city: Dilingham)
Lake & Peninsula Borough (largest city: Newhalen)
North Slope Borough (largest city: Utqiaġvik)
Northwest Arctic Borough (largest city: Kotzebue)
Prince of Wales–Hyder Census Area (largest city: Craig)
Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area (largest city: Fort Yukon)

By congressional district

Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district, an at-large district because it covers the entire state, is thus equivalent to the statewide election results.

District	Romney	Obama	Representative
At-large	54.80%	40.81%	Don Young

Notes

^ The other states are Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, and New York.

References

^ State of Alaska 2012 General Election Official Results
^ "Alaska Presidential Results by County, 1960-2016|Maps". thecinyc. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
^ "Alaska Democratic Delegation 2012". www.thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
^ "Alaska Republican Events". Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
^ "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
^ "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
^ "2012 Convention Process". ARP. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
^ "2012 Convention Process". ARP. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
^ Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
^ New York Times, Retrieved March 23, 2012.
^ "Huffington Post Election Dashboard". HuffPost. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013.
^ "America's Choice 2012 Election Center: CNN Electoral Map". CNN. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.
^ "Election 2012 - The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012.
^ "2012 Presidential Election Results". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012.
^ "RealClearPolitics - 2012 Election Maps - Battle for White House". Archived from the original on June 8, 2011.
^ "PROJECTION: OBAMA WILL LIKELY WIN SECOND TERM".
^ "Nate Silver's political calculations predict 2012 election outcome".
^ "2012 Presidential General Election Results - Alaska". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

External links

The Green Papers: for Alaska
The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order
Official website of the Alaska Republican Party
Official website of the Alaska Democratic Party

[fn1-2] The other states are Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, and New York.

[1] State of Alaska 2012 General Election Official Results

[:0-3] "Alaska Presidential Results by County, 1960-2016|Maps". thecinyc. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2020.

[4] "Alaska Democratic Delegation 2012". www.thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved September 1, 2020.

[5] "Alaska Republican Events". Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.

[6] "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2012.

[7] "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.

[8] "2012 Convention Process". ARP. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.

[9] "2012 Convention Process". ARP. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.

[10] Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.

[11] New York Times, Retrieved March 23, 2012.

[12] "Huffington Post Election Dashboard". HuffPost. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013.

[13] "America's Choice 2012 Election Center: CNN Electoral Map". CNN. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.

[14] "Election 2012 - The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012.

[15] "2012 Presidential Election Results". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012.

[16] "RealClearPolitics - 2012 Election Maps - Battle for White House". Archived from the original on June 8, 2011.

[17] "PROJECTION: OBAMA WILL LIKELY WIN SECOND TERM".

[18] "Nate Silver's political calculations predict 2012 election outcome".

[19] "2012 Presidential General Election Results - Alaska". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

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