2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee information
Main article: 2012 United States presidential election
2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee
← 2008
November 6, 2012
2016 →
Turnout
61.86% [1] 4.48 pp
Nominee
Mitt Romney
Barack Obama
Party
Republican
Democratic
Home state
Massachusetts
Illinois
Running mate
Paul Ryan
Joe Biden
Electoral vote
11
0
Popular vote
1,462,330
960,709
Percentage
59.42%
39.04%
County results
Congressional district results
State Senate district results
Romney
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
Obama
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
President before election
Barack Obama
Democratic
Elected President
Barack Obama
Democratic
Elections in Tennessee
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Nashville measures
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Let's Move Nashville
Government
v
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2012 U.S. presidential election
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The 2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee was held on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Tennessee voters chose 11 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.
Romney easily carried Tennessee's 11 electoral votes, winning 59.42% of the vote in the state to Obama's 39.04%.[2] Romney's 20.38% margin of victory was the strongest performance by any presidential candidate in the state since Richard Nixon's 1972 landslide. Tennessee has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1996, when Bill Clinton won the state and many other states of the South, and Tennessee has not given a majority to a Democratic nominee since fellow Southerner Jimmy Carter carried it in 1976. Thus, Tennessee has been seen as part of the modern-day red wall in the 21st century. After 1996, the state has been growing more Republican with each election.[3]
As consistent with the rest of the country, Obama carried heavily populated and diverse counties. The largest county, Shelby, was won by Obama by a 26.05% margin due to it being home to Memphis, Tennessee's largest city. In addition, the home of the state capital of Nashville, Davidson County, went to Obama by 18.53%. Hardeman and Haywood counties, both low-populated suburbs of Memphis, also went to Obama due to their high African American populations (42.2%[4] and 50.6%,[5] respectively). However, rural areas – including areas in the northwestern portion of the state that had long favored Democratic candidates – saw heavy margins for Romney, allowing him to offset Obama's wins in large cities. The eastern region of the state in Appalachia, some of the most historically Republican and Unionist counties in the country, saw margins of over 70% for the Republican ticket.[6]
Romney also flipped two counties, Houston and Jackson, to the Republican column. Both of these majority-white counties had been Democratic strongholds with their strong ties to secessionism: they had each only voted for a Republican presidential nominee once prior to this election, in 1928 and 1920, respectively.[7] Thus, Obama became the first Democrat to be elected without either county. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time in which Hardeman County was won by the Democratic presidential nominee. This is also the first and only time that a Democratic president has won re-election without ever carrying Tennessee.
^"Tennessee Voter Turnout in 2012". Tennessee Secretary of State. November 6, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
^"Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Tennessee". Retrieved January 4, 2013.
^Moskowitz, Seth (March 2, 2020). "The Road to 270: Tennessee". 270toWin. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
^"U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Hardeman County, Tennessee". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
^"U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Haywood County, Tennessee". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
^Rothenberg, Stuart (October 3, 2017). "What Happened to Mountain Republicans in the South?". Inside Elections. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
^Skelley, Geoffrey. "County winners, 1836-2016". Google Sheets. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
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[1] 4.48 pp
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