The 2012 United States presidential election in Utah 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. Utah voters chose six 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 17 news organizations making election predictions considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Alongside neighboring Wyoming & Idaho, Utah has voted for the Republican ticket in each presidential election starting in 1968 and all but one starting 1952. Utah is the only state to have a majority Mormon population, benefiting Romney, the first Mormon to head a major party presidential ticket. Romney won in a landslide, carrying 72.55% of the vote to Obama's 24.67%, a margin of 47.88% or 488,787 votes, the best raw vote margin in the state's history to date.[1] He won every county in the state by margins of over 15%, except for Grand and Summit County, home to the cities of Moab and Park City, respectively. Romney flipped these counties along with Salt Lake County, where the state's largest city, Salt Lake City, is located.
With a 47.88% margin, Utah would prove to be Romney's strongest state in the 2012 election, and it would also be Romney's largest outperformance of John McCain in 2008, winning the state by almost 20 points more.[2] Romney was elected as a United States Senator from Utah six years later in 2018, having moved there in 2014. Romney's vote share in Utah was also the highest of any presidential nominee in any state since Ronald Reagan's in Utah in 1984, and remains so as of 2020.
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time the Republican nominee won Utah with more than 60% of the vote, as well as the last time they won every county. It is also the last election in which Salt Lake County and Summit County have voted for the Republican presidential nominee and also the last time Utah has been the most Republican state in the United States. This is the last time a Republican presidential candidate won 70% of the vote in any state, as well as the last time any candidate (along with Obama in Hawaii) has won more than 70% of the vote in any state.
Due to President Barack Obama running for reelection without serious opposition from the Democratic Party in 2012, no Democratic Primary was held in Utah.
The 2012 Utah Republican presidential primary took place on 26 June 2012.[3] 37 delegates were chosen, for a total of 40 delegates to go to the national convention, all pledged to the primary winner.
In 2008, Mitt Romney received major support from the Mormon (Latter Day Saints) and other religious population and was able to carry the state with 93.07% of the vote. Romney led the polling in 2012[4][5] and won the primary by more than a landslide, and no other candidate could either scrape past 5% of the vote, awarding him all 40 delegates.[6]
Write-in access:
Mitt Romney won all four congressional districts, including one that simultaneously elected a Democrat.