| dbo:abstract |
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. Utah is among the most heavily Republican states, voting for the Republican ticket in every presidential election since 1968 and all but once since 1952, and is also 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 72.62% of the vote to Obama's 24.69%, a margin of 47.93% or 488,787 votes, the best raw vote margin in the state's history to date. He won every county in the state by margins of over 15%, except for Grand and Summit Counties, 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 47.93% 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. Romney would go on to be elected as a United States Senator from Utah six years later in 2018 after having switched his residence to the Beehive State. 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. Romney's landslide win would also foreshadow Utah's considerable swing to the center in the elections following. Romney, who became a heavy critic of later-President Donald Trump, played a factor in Trump's mere 20.48% win in 2020, representing a significant decline in support for the Republican Party likely attributable to Romney's popularity among Utah voters. As of 2020, this is the last time the Republican nominee won Utah with more than 60% of the vote, the last time any statewide candidate won 70% 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. This is also the last time Utah has been the most Republican state in the United States, and the last time Utah voted to the right of any of the following: Wyoming, West Virginia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Idaho, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Dakota or Nebraska's 3rd congressional district. (en) |
