2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Updated: Wikipedia source
The 2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania 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. The primary election to select the Democratic and Republican candidates had been held on April 24, 2012. Pennsylvania voters chose 20 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. Pennsylvania's electoral vote number was a reduction from the 2008 delegation, which had 21 electors. This change was due to reapportionment following the 2010 United States census. Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes are allotted on a winner-take-all basis. Obama received 51 % of the vote, beating Romney's 46 %. Also on the ballot were physician Jill Stein of the Green Party and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, who received 0 % and 0 %, respectively. Other candidates could run as write-in candidates, which received a total 0 % of the vote. The state had been considered likely, but not certain, to go to Obama. While the state had voted for a Democrat since 1992, it remained competitive, especially after Bush's loss of only 2 % in 2004. Its competitiveness was attributable to the stark contrast between the state's diverse, urban voters in areas such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; and rural, blue-collar voters in the rest of the state. However, massive margins in the urban regions of the state and victories in the Philadelphia suburbs, Lehigh Valley, Scranton, and Erie delivered a considerable victory for the president. Obama received over 85% of the vote in Philadelphia County, the highest vote share in its history as of 2024. Regardless, Romney improved on John McCain's 10 % loss in the state in 2008. Just like in 2008, Pennsylvania was the most Republican of the three Rust Belt swing states (including Wisconsin and Michigan) in 2012. Five counties that voted for Obama in 2008 voted for Romney in 2012: Berks, Cambria, Carbon, Chester, and Elk. This made Obama the first Democrat to win the presidency without carrying Cambria County since Woodrow Wilson in 1916, and made him the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying Elk County since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, and the first to do so without carrying Carbon County since John F. Kennedy in 1960. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time that Chester County voted for the Republican candidate, that Luzerne County voted for the Democratic candidate, and that Pennsylvania voted more Democratic than the nation as a whole. This was the last time a Democratic presidential nominee has won every Northeastern electoral vote. Pennsylvania voted twice for Republican Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, and Maine's 2nd congressional district voted for Trump in all three of his runs. This was also the last time Pennsylvania voted to the left of Virginia, with Virginia being the only former Confederate state never to have voted for Trump.