2012 United States presidential election in Michigan candidate Barack Obama
The 2012 United States presidential election in Michigan 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 16 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.
Michigan was won by Democrat Barack Obama with 54.21% of the vote to Romney's 44.71%, a victory margin of 9.5%. It was the sixth presidential election in a row where Michigan voted in favor of the Democratic candidate, with Republicans last carrying the state in 1988. Obama's margin of victory was significantly decreased from 2008 when he carried the state by 16.44%, and he lost 26 counties that had voted for him four years prior. Many of those counties had gone Democratic for the first time in decades, such as Berrien County, which had not voted for a Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. The state's Republican trend would continue, as Donald Trump would end up narrowly winning the state and flipping even more counties in 2016. Nevertheless, it would return to the Democratic column in the following cycle when it narrowly backed Joe Biden over Trump.
As of 2020, this is the last time Michigan voted more Democratic than the nation, as well as the last time it voted to the left of Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Minnesota. Due to the latter, 2012 is the last time Michigan was the most Democratic state in the Midwest after Illinois. It was also the last time that Bay County, Calhoun County, Eaton County, Gogebic County, Isabella County, Lake County, Macomb County, Manistee County, Monroe County, Shiawassee County, and Van Buren County voted for a Democratic candidate.
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