The 2012 United States presidential election in South Dakota 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. South Dakota voters chose three 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 seventeen news organizations making predictions for the election considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state . South Dakota has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson carried it in his 44-state landslide in 1964 . South Dakota, just as all of the other states in the Great Plains, is among the most Republican states in the country. According to a 2012 Gallup poll, South Dakota is the 9th most conservative state in the country, with Republicans having an 11 percentage point advantage over Democrats in terms of party affiliation or identification.[ 1] It is also the 10th whitest state in the country as of 2012, at 83.8%,[ 2] and has the 4th highest gun ownership rate in the country at 56.6%, according to The Washington Post .[ 3] Both of these voting blocs are relatively solid for the Republican Party.[ 4]
While Obama lost the state by only 8.41% in 2008 , illustrating a potential resurgence of Democratic strength among the agrarian population as seen in states such as Iowa , the state was returned to the safe Republican column in 2012. Romney won South Dakota by an 18.02% margin of victory. Romney was able to win back southeast Dakota: Obama became competitive there in 2008, when he won Minnehaha County (and many of its suburbs), home to the state's largest city of Sioux Falls , by only 587 votes.[ 5] Romney carried upwards of 60% of the vote in many counties, with his best performance in the West River. He also flipped Brown County , where Aberdeen is.
Obama's best performance was in majority Native American counties in the west of the state. He carried 93.35% of the vote in Shannon County (now known as Oglala Lakota), home to the Pine Ridge Reservation and the Oglala Lakota tribe. The counties of Buffalo ; Dewey ; and Todd , where the Crow Creek ; Cheyenne River and Standing Rock ; and Rosebud reservations are located, respectively, also delivered great margins to the president. Clay County , home to the University of South Dakota , was the only county in the southeast to vote for Obama.
As of the 2020 presidential election , this is the most last time in which the Democratic candidate won Corson County , Day County , Marshall County , and Roberts County .
Primary elections
Democratic primary
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(June 2022 )
Republican primary
2012 South Dakota Republican presidential primary
South Dakota results by county
Mitt Romney
(Note:
Italicization indicates a withdrawn candidacy)
The Republican primary took place on June 5, 2012.[ 6] 25 delegates will be chosen, for a total of 28 delegates to go to the national convention.
2012 South Dakota Republican primary
Candidate
Votes
Percentage
Delegates
Mitt Romney
34,033
66.1%
25
Ron Paul
6,704
13.01%
0
Rick Santorum
5,916
11.48%
0
Uncommitted
2,797
5.43%
0
Newt Gingrich
2,074
4.03%
0
Unpledged delegates:
3
Total:
51,524
100.0%
28
Key:
Withdrew prior to contest
General election
Results
Results by county
County[ 8]
Mitt Romney Republican
Barack Obama Democratic
Gary Johnson Libertarian
Virgil Goode Constitution
Margin
Total votes cast
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
Aurora
804
57.43%
556
39.71%
27
1.93%
13
0.93%
248
17.72%
1,400
Beadle
4,230
58.24%
2,881
39.67%
107
1.47%
45
0.62%
1,349
18.57%
7,263
Bennett
626
52.04%
548
45.55%
18
1.50%
11
0.91%
78
6.49%
1,203
Bon Homme
1,830
59.53%
1,167
37.96%
55
1.79%
22
0.72%
663
21.57%
3,074
Brookings
6,220
50.16%
5,827
46.99%
253
2.04%
100
0.81%
393
3.17%
12,400
Brown
8,321
51.79%
7,250
45.12%
409
2.55%
88
0.55%
1,071
6.67%
16,068
Brule
1,499
63.01%
824
34.64%
37
1.56%
19
0.80%
675
28.37%
2,379
Buffalo
166
25.90%
472
73.63%
3
0.47%
0
0.00%
-306
-47.73%
641
Butte
3,073
73.03%
1,000
23.81%
94
2.23%
39
0.93%
2,071
49.22%
4,208
Campbell
616
78.27%
153
19.44%
12
1.52%
6
0.76%
463
58.83%
787
Charles Mix
2,230
59.25%
1,483
39.40%
30
0.80%
21
0.56%
747
19.85%
3,764
Clark
1,067
58.59%
713
39.15%
27
1.48%
14
0.77%
354
19.44%
1,821
Clay
2,147
41.02%
2,955
56.46%
107
2.04%
25
0.48%
-808
-15.44%
5,234
Codington
6,696
58.10%
4,588
39.81%
169
1.47%
71
0.62%
2,108
18.29%
11,524
Corson
515
42.92%
648
54.00%
30
2.50%
7
0.58%
-133
-11.08%
1,200
Custer
3,062
67.74%
1,335
29.54%
83
1.84%
40
0.88%
1,727
38.20%
4,520
Davison
4,757
59.68%
3,042
38.16%
125
1.57%
47
0.59%
1,715
21.52%
7,971
Day
1,320
45.95%
1,497
52.11%
33
1.15%
23
0.80%
-177
-6.16%
2,873
Deuel
1,175
54.12%
941
43.34%
32
1.47%
23
1.06%
234
10.78%
2,171
Dewey
663
34.99%
1,207
63.69%
15
0.79%
10
0.53%
-544
-28.70%
1,895
Douglas
1,334
78.93%
332
19.64%
16
0.95%
8
0.47%
1,002
59.29%
1,690
Edmunds
1,264
65.29%
622
32.13%
37
1.91%
13
0.67%
642
33.16%
1,936
Fall River
2,258
64.22%
1,140
32.42%
75
2.13%
43
1.22%
1,118
31.80%
3,516
Faulk
765
67.88%
331
29.37%
22
1.95%
9
0.80%
434
38.51%
1,127
Grant
2,034
56.41%
1,493
41.40%
48
1.33%
31
0.86%
541
15.01%
3,606
Gregory
1,507
70.06%
599
27.85%
31
1.44%
14
0.65%
908
42.21%
2,151
Haakon
940
86.08%
138
12.64%
8
0.73%
6
0.55%
802
73.44%
1,092
Hamlin
1,803
64.55%
921
32.98%
47
1.68%
22
0.79%
882
31.57%
2,793
Hand
1,242
67.21%
575
31.11%
21
1.14%
10
0.54%
667
36.10%
1,848
Hanson
1,627
67.34%
760
31.46%
16
0.66%
13
0.54%
867
35.88%
2,416
Harding
638
86.33%
82
11.10%
16
2.17%
3
0.41%
556
75.23%
739
Hughes
5,219
64.00%
2,786
34.16%
107
1.31%
43
0.53%
2,433
29.84%
8,155
Hutchinson
2,451
71.56%
923
26.95%
25
0.73%
26
0.76%
1,528
44.61%
3,425
Hyde
531
72.44%
189
25.78%
11
1.50%
2
0.27%
342
46.66%
733
Jackson
661
59.76%
426
38.52%
9
0.81%
10
0.90%
235
21.24%
1,106
Jerauld
538
53.48%
452
44.93%
11
1.09%
5
0.50%
86
8.55%
1,006
Jones
490
80.46%
108
17.73%
9
1.48%
2
0.33%
382
62.73%
609
Kingsbury
1,451
55.64%
1,092
41.87%
45
1.73%
20
0.77%
359
13.77%
2,608
Lake
3,419
54.40%
2,724
43.34%
98
1.56%
44
0.70%
695
11.06%
6,285
Lawrence
7,025
61.85%
3,973
34.98%
262
2.31%
99
0.87%
3,052
26.87%
11,359
Lincoln
13,611
62.00%
7,982
36.36%
261
1.19%
98
0.45%
5,629
25.64%
21,952
Lyman
933
59.46%
605
38.56%
24
1.53%
7
0.45%
328
20.90%
1,569
Marshall
889
44.74%
1,061
53.40%
29
1.46%
8
0.40%
-172
-8.66%
1,987
McCook
1,655
63.34%
905
34.63%
33
1.26%
20
0.77%
750
28.71%
2,613
McPherson
921
75.80%
272
22.39%
12
0.99%
10
0.82%
649
53.41%
1,215
Meade
7,566
69.95%
2,928
27.07%
214
1.98%
109
1.01%
4,638
42.88%
10,817
Mellette
381
49.54%
375
48.76%
5
0.65%
8
1.04%
6
0.78%
769
Miner
636
55.79%
479
42.02%
18
1.58%
7
0.61%
157
13.77%
1,140
Minnehaha
40,342
52.68%
34,674
45.28%
1,118
1.46%
449
0.59%
5,668
7.40%
76,583
Moody
1,535
50.61%
1,429
47.12%
47
1.55%
22
0.73%
106
3.49%
3,033
Pennington
28,232
63.49%
15,125
34.02%
816
1.84%
291
0.65%
13,107
29.47%
44,464
Perkins
1,205
75.79%
319
20.06%
39
2.45%
27
1.70%
886
55.73%
1,590
Potter
1,029
74.51%
339
24.55%
10
0.72%
3
0.22%
690
49.96%
1,381
Roberts
1,883
44.24%
2,302
54.09%
42
0.99%
29
0.68%
-419
-9.85%
4,256
Sanborn
688
61.70%
389
34.89%
22
1.97%
16
1.43%
299
26.81%
1,115
Shannon
188
5.98%
2,937
93.39%
14
0.45%
6
0.19%
-2,749
-87.41%
3,145
Spink
1,670
54.92%
1,300
42.75%
54
1.78%
17
0.56%
370
12.17%
3,041
Stanley
1,063
69.03%
435
28.25%
33
2.14%
9
0.58%
628
40.78%
1,540
Sully
613
74.94%
186
22.74%
16
1.96%
3
0.37%
427
52.20%
818
Todd
498
19.94%
1,976
79.13%
11
0.44%
12
0.48%
-1,478
-59.19%
2,497
Tripp
1,905
70.79%
737
27.39%
23
0.85%
26
0.97%
1,168
43.40%
2,691
Turner
2,715
64.49%
1,411
33.52%
47
1.12%
37
0.88%
1,304
30.97%
4,210
Union
4,698
61.85%
2,782
36.62%
81
1.07%
35
0.46%
1,916
25.23%
7,596
Walworth
1,731
70.31%
671
27.25%
41
1.67%
19
0.77%
1,060
43.06%
2,462
Yankton
5,495
55.09%
4,226
42.37%
199
2.00%
54
0.54%
1,269
12.72%
9,974
Ziebach
314
41.26%
439
57.69%
6
0.79%
2
0.26%
-125
-16.43%
761
Totals
210,610
57.89%
145,039
39.87%
5,795
1.59%
2,371
0.65%
65,571
18.02%
363,815
County Flips: Democratic Hold
Republican Hold
Gain from Democratic
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
By congressional district
South Dakota has only one congressional district because of its small population compared to other states. This district, called the At-Large district because it covers the entire state, is equivalent to the statewide election results.
See also
References
^ Jones, Jeffrey M. (February 2, 2012). "More States Move to GOP in 2011" . Gallup . Retrieved November 27, 2020 .
^ "2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates" . American FactFinder, U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2014 .
^ Cochran, Laura (May 26, 2006). "Gun Ownership by State" . The Washington Post . Retrieved November 27, 2020 .
^ Cohen, Micah (August 24, 2012). "In South Dakota, Only the Farm Trumps Conservatism" . FiveThirtyEight . Retrieved November 27, 2020 .
^ "South Dakota - Election Results 2008 - The New York Times" . www.nytimes.com . Retrieved November 27, 2020 .
^ "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar" . CNN . Retrieved January 12, 2012 .
^ "South Dakota Secretary of State" . Retrieved December 9, 2012 .
^ Our Campaigns; SD US Presidential Election Race, November 06, 2012
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