2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina instance of United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 2012 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. North Carolina voters chose 15 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 narrowly carried the state of North Carolina, winning 50.39% of the vote to Obama's 48.35%, a margin of 2.04%. North Carolina was one of just two states (along with Indiana) that flipped from voting for Obama in 2008 to voting Republican in 2012. Like Indiana, North Carolina had been a reliably Republican state prior to Obama's 2008 win, having not previously gone Democratic since 1976. Unlike Indiana, however, North Carolina was still considered a competitive swing state in 2012, and both campaigns targeted it heavily, with the Democrats holding their convention in Charlotte. Romney was the first presidential candidate since Zachary Taylor in 1848 to carry North Carolina while losing both Wake County and Mecklenburg County, the two most populous counties and home to the cities of Raleigh and Charlotte, respectively. Romney also became the third-ever Republican to carry North Carolina without winning the presidency after George H. W. Bush and Bob Dole in the 1992 and 1996 elections and Obama became the first ever Democrat incumbent win the state only once and then win re-election without it.  Although Obama lost North Carolina to Romney, he received more votes than he received in 2008, garnering 35,740 more. 
This is the first time Nash County had voted for a Democratic candidate since Jimmy Carter carried it in 1976. Obama became the first Democrat ever to win the presidency without Caswell and Hyde counties, and the first since 1960 to win without Jackson County. As of 2020, this is the most recent election where the Republican presidential candidate won Watauga County; and where the Democratic presidential candidate won Bladen County, Gates County, Granville County, Martin County, Richmond County, and Robeson County. This is also the last time that any presidential candidate won the majority of the vote in North Carolina.
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