2012 United States presidential election in Colorado information
Election in Colorado
Main article: 2012 United States presidential election
2012 United States presidential election in Colorado
← 2008
November 6, 2012
2016 →
Turnout
71.17% [1]
Nominee
Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
Party
Democratic
Republican
Home state
Illinois
Massachusetts
Running mate
Joe Biden
Paul Ryan
Electoral vote
9
0
Popular vote
1,323,102
1,185,243
Percentage
51.45%
46.09%
County Results
Obama
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
Romney
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
President before election
Barack Obama
Democratic
Elected President
Barack Obama
Democratic
Elections in Colorado
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4th sp
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List of Colorado ballot measures
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36
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E
F
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H
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J
K
2008
46
47
48
49
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51
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58
59
L
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62
2012
64
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A
2020
C
113
114
EE
2022
125
126
FF
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v
t
e
The 2012 United States presidential election in Colorado 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. Colorado voters chose nine 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. Obama and Biden carried Colorado with 51.45% of the popular vote to Romney's and Ryan's 46.09%, thus winning the state's nine electoral votes by a 5.36% margin.[2]
As in 2008, the key to Obama's victory was Democratic dominance in the Denver area, sweeping not just the city but also the heavily populated suburban counties around Denver, particularly Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson counties; as well as winning Larimer County, home to Fort Collins. Obama also took nearly 70% of the vote in Boulder County, home to Boulder; and won Chaffee County, which he had lost to McCain in 2008. Romney's most populated county wins were in El Paso County, where Colorado Springs is located; and Weld County, a suburb of Denver and home to Greeley.
This election solidified Colorado's transformation from a historically Republican-leaning state into a Democratic-leaning swing state. Obama's 2012 victory in the state, on the heels of his 2008 victory, marked the first time that the Democrats had carried Colorado in two consecutive elections since the landslide re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, the first time that the state had voted Democratic in a close election since 1948, and the first time since 1964 that a sitting Democratic president carried Colorado.
Colorado served as the tipping-point state for Obama's overall victory in the presidential election; that is, the first state to give a candidate their 270th electoral vote when all states are arranged by their margins of victory. Colorado was also the tipping-point state for Obama's 2008 victory. This marks the second time in history that a president was elected and re-elected by winning the same tipping-point state, after Richard Nixon was carried to victory by Ohio twice in 1968 and 1972.
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which rural Conejos County, Huerfano County, and Las Animas County have voted for the Democratic candidate. This is also the most recent presidential election where Colorado voted to the right of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Nevada, Maine and New Hampshire.
^"Election Results 2012" (PDF). sos.state.co.us. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
^"2012 General Election". Colorado Department of State. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
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