2012 United States presidential election

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57th presidential election
November 6, 2012

President Barack Obama, 2012 portrait crop.jpg
Democratic Party
Barack Obama / Joe Biden
electors 332  
be right 65.910.437  
  
51.1%
Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore 6 cropped.jpg
Republican Party
Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan
electors 206  
be right 60,932,795  
  
47.2%

Election results by state
Map of election results by state
  26 states + DC  
Obama / Biden
  24 states  
Romney / Ryan

President of the United States
Before the election
Barack Obama
Democratic Party

The 57th election of the President of the United States took place on 6. November 2012 instead, when the electors of the College Electoral were determined. With their vote on December 17, 2012, they re-elected Barack Obama as President and Joe Biden as Vice President .

On November 6, 2012, the elections to the US Congress , eleven gubernatorial and parliamentary elections in numerous states, and a status referendum in Puerto Rico took place.

Starting position

Results of the 2012 presidential election by individual counties :
  • Majority for Obama
  • Majority for Romney
  • Events since the previous election

    In the 2008 presidential election , Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain by around 53% to 46%, while the Democrats were able to defend their majority with gains in both chambers of Congress. The prevailing theme of the presidential election was a request of the US electorate for change ( "change") in Washington, DC as well as an overall reform of the policy under the presidency of George W. Bush . Economic issues also played a major role, especially in the last few months before the election after the outbreak of the financial and economic crisis and the collapse of the major US bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

    During his tenure, President Obama signed two bills in support of the American economy, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 in December 2010.

    In addition, Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (March 23, 2010) as well as the Dodd – Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (July 21, 2010) and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell, at the heart of his first term in office Repeal Act of 2010 (December 22, 2010). Obama negotiated and signed the New START treaty with Russia , a treaty for the disarmament of nuclear weapons .

    Obama initiated the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq , reinforced the US troops in Afghanistan and implemented the no-fly zone over Libya , which was decided by the UN .

    May 1 2011, Obama gave the order to military operation Neptune's Spear against the alleged mastermind of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 , Osama bin Laden , who in the course of the operation in Abbottabad ( Pakistan killed) and then by US Navy personnel in the Indian Ocean buried has been.

    In the mid-term elections for the US Congress in November 2010 , the opposition Republicans were able to achieve significant gains and win a majority in the US House of Representatives . The US Senate remained just under the control of the Democrats. Candidates and voters focused on the increasingly unstable US economy and the associated record budget deficits as well as generally on the unpopular economic policy and health care reform of US President Obama and his Democrats in Congress. The fiscal policy and libertarian -oriented tea party movement was republican to a decisive force in mobilizing voters.

    Polls in 2011 found that US voters continued to be frustrated with the work of the US government and Congress. The polls for Republicans and the Tea Party movement also eroded. In particular, a majority of Americans believed that President Obama was unable to come up with a workable job creation plan, while they showed even less confidence in the US Congress. The debate about raising the US debt ceiling in the summer / fall of 2011 also contributed to the deterioration in the polls of Republicans, the Tea Party movement and Obama himself.

    In May 2012, Obama became the first US president to advocate national legalization of same-sex marriage .

    In June 2012, he announced that an Executive Privilege would allow children of illegal immigrants to stay for 2 years if they were not older than 16 at the time of immigration or are not currently older than 30 and have a high school diploma or have completed military service. In doing so, he enforces part of the Dream Act .

    Changes in Electoral College

    Distribution of electors by federal state, states marked orange have lost electors compared to 2008, blue ones have gained electors. There was no change for countries with a gray background.

    The United States Census 2010 , a census that took place in April 2010, had changed the distribution of electors between states in the Electoral College . Ten states, mostly in the northeast, lost a total of twelve electors; eight states in the south and west gained this.

    Eight states won by Obama in 2008 lost a total of ten electors, while three states gained four electors.

    Of the states that went to John McCain in 2008 , five states gained a total of eight electors, while two states lost one elector each. This led to the "Obama states" casting a total of six electoral votes to the "McCain states".

    While Obama was able to win the 2008 election with 365: 173 electoral votes, in 2012 with the same states it would have been only 359: 179 electoral votes for Obama.

    States won by Barack Obama in 2008:

    • Florida - two more electors
    • Illinois - one elective less
    • Iowa - one less voter
    • Massachusetts - one elective less
    • Michigan - one elective less
    • Nevada - one more electorate
    • New Jersey - one elective less
    • New York - two electors less
    • Ohio - two electors less
    • Pennsylvania - one elective less
    • Washington - one more elector

    States won by John McCain in 2008:

    • Arizona - one more electorate
    • Georgia - one more elector
    • Louisiana - one elective less
    • Missouri - one elective less
    • South Carolina - one more electorate
    • Texas - four more electors
    • Utah - one more elector

    Candidates

    According to the constitution, candidates for President must be a Natural Born Citizen , be at least 35 years old, and have lived in the country for at least 14 years.

    A number of parties had nominated their own candidate. This happened at nomination party congresses, at which a candidate was chosen from the party candidates. For the selection of the party congress delegates, the two major parties held general primaries in which citizens could express their support for a candidate. There were also a number of independent candidates.

    Since the election consisted of 51 individual elections that took place in parallel, there was also no uniform right to vote. Each state determined which requirements must be met in order to be named as a candidate on the ballot. In many states there were also so-called "write-in" candidates. They weren't on the ballot paper, but there was a blank space in which to write the name of such a candidate.

    A total of 20 parties had put up candidates. However, only five parties in enough states were on the ballot paper or could be entered there as a write-in to obtain the required majority of the 270 electoral votes. However, only four of these had nominated a candidate. Americans Elect had access to ballot papers in states with a total of 286 voters, but did not nominate any candidate.

    No independent candidate could theoretically win a majority of the electoral votes. Of the numerous independent candidates, only nine were on the ballot paper in at least one state.

    That meant there were only six candidates who could theoretically have received enough electoral votes to become president. There are:

    Candidates in the 2012 presidential election
    Political party image Presidential
    candidate
    Office or
    activity
    Vice presidential
    candidate
    Possible electoral votes
    Democratic Party Barack Obama Barack Obama President from Illinois Joe Biden 538
    Republican Party Mitt Romney Mitt Romney former Massachusetts governor Paul Ryan 538
    Libertarian party Gary E. Johnson Gary E. Johnson former governor of New Mexico James P. Gray 515 (plus 16 write-in)
    Green party Jill Stein Jill Stein Doctor from Massachusetts Cheri Honkala 447 (plus 11 write-in)
    Constitution Party Virgil Goode Virgil Goode former member of the House of Representatives from Virginia Jim Clymer 257 (plus 133 write-in)
    Justice Party Rocky Anderson Rocky Anderson former Mayor of Salt Lake City , Utah Luis J. Rodriguez 145 (plus 160 write-in)

    Obama and Romney were the only candidates to run in all states and the District of Columbia.

    Primaries

    All parties held congresses to determine their candidates. Primary elections were held for the major parties in the spring of 2012, in which the individual states selected their delegates for the party congress. Candidates for the presidential candidacy put up candidates who were then tied to them. As a result, the primaries decided who ran for each party. In contrast to the general election in November, the outer areas of the United States also had the right to vote, as they also provided delegates at the party congresses.

    Republican Party

    The following people publicly announced their candidacy for the Republican Party (in brackets the dates when the candidates withdrew from the race):

    Romney was on the Republican National Convention from 27 to 30 August 2012 in Tampa ( Florida officially named) for presidential candidates. 2061 of the 2286 delegates spoke out in favor of him. Based on a CNN calculation, Romney had a majority of the delegate votes since May 29, 2012. Along with Romney, Paul Ryan was nominated as a vice presidential candidate.

    The following table shows the distribution of delegate votes before the party congress.

    Winner in the Republican primaries :
  • Mitt Romney
  • Newt Gingrich
  • Rick Santorum
  • Ron Paul
  • Delegate Summary
    candidate Elected
    Delegates (1,871)
    Non-obligated
    delegates (415)
    Total (2,286)
    Mitt Romney 1,400 145 1,545
    Rick Santorum 234 14th 248
    Ron Paul 72 101 173
    Newt Gingrich 137 5 142
    Michele Bachmann 1 0 1
    Uncommitted 24 6th 30th
    Unknown 3 144 147
    Winner needs 1,144

    Reactions

    The Super Tuesday was received attention in Germany. It was noticed with surprise that there are still more than two applicants in the running. Der Spiegel analyzed the situation like this:

    “If you want to know why long-time favorite Mitt Romney has not been nominated for his party long ago, you just have to add up the votes against in those six states that the ex-governor of Massachusetts won on Super Tuesday.

    In Ohio, all Romney rivals together come to 58 percent, in Vermont to 57 and in Alaska to 67. In Idaho and his home state of Massachusetts alone Romney manages over the 50 percent mark. In Virginia too, but there he had a very weak opponent in the radical liberal outsider Ron Paul - and he even got 40 percent.

    Romney wins, but they are difficult victories. The majority of the party is not convinced, although Romney is the most likely candidate. It remains unclear whether the Republicans can come to terms with him. "

    The New York Times wrote of Romney's situation, alluding to his stiff appearance in the spring of 2012: "Things are not going well for Mister Roboto." His convictions are fickle to threadbare. He is anything but eloquent and passionate. ... You can hardly imagine a worse candidate. "

    Democratic Party

    The following people had publicly announced their candidacy for the Democratic Party :

    Based on a CNN calculation, Barack Obama had a majority of the 5,553 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte , North Carolina, since April 3, 2012 . At the beginning of September 2012, he was officially nominated to run for president again at the Democratic Party Congress. Vice-President Joe Biden was also re-elected as a candidate for the vice-presidency, as Obama intended.

    Campaign Funding

    Every American citizen was allowed to donate a maximum of $ 5,000 directly to each candidate during a presidential campaign, $ 2,500 each in the primary and main election campaign. However, this limitation to citizens and the upper limit of the donation amount did not apply to those donations to a respective Political Action Committee (PAC) .

    Period: January 1, 2011 to November 26, 2012

    candidate source Initial
    cash on hand
    in US dollars
    Donation income
    in US dollars
    Election campaign expenses
    in US dollars
    Ending
    cash on hand
    in US dollars
    Debt
    in US dollars
    Barack Obama - D 2,303,397 732.741.988 729,647,986 5,397,399 -
    Mitt Romney - R 4,421 478,704,347 465.787.140 12,921,628 -

    With donations of $ 261,000, Bayer AG was the largest German sponsor of the Republicans in the election campaign, followed by Deutsche Telekom with $ 193,500 and BASF with $ 128,000. Bayer donated $ 119,000 to the Democrats, and Telekom $ 149,000.

    Income and expenses by months

    month Barack Obama Mitt Romney
    Income (in US dollars) Expenditures (in US dollars) Income (in US dollars) Expenditures (in US dollars)
    January 2012 11,865,906 17,673,789 6,537,996 18,776,493
    February 2012 21,312,005 12,590,672 11,958,248 12,362,525
    March 2012 35.080.297 15,657,565 13,062,261 10,275,864
    April 2012 25,705,858 14,644,619 11,723,689 12,572,102
    May 2012 39,142,855 44,582,172 23,417,840 15,629,510
    June 2012 45,912,739 58.094.115 33,044,772 27,538,608
    July 2012 49.167.908 58,956,970 40.329.413 32,653,870
    August 2012 84,758,860 83.729.126 86,614,016 66.360.985
    September 2012 126.060.870 115,553,581 77,733,238 65.019.625

    Survey

    In mid-October, Romney and Obama were roughly on par in the polls. After Hurricane Sandy , Obama was slightly ahead.

    • Main election (Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney)
    • Main Election (Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney - Electoral College Map)
    • Main election (Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney)
    • Main election (Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney)
    • Main election (Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney)
    • Main election (Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney)
    • Approval or rejection of President Obama's policies
    • Popular ratings from Barack Obama & Mitt Romney
    • Republican primaries
      • National polls
      • State polls

    elections

    New York's Empire State Building will be illuminated in blue on election night, the color of the Democratic Party
    Barack Obama receives a congratulatory call from Mitt Romney on Nov. 7, 2012

    At the start of the elections on November 6, 2012, it was announced that around 146 million Americans had registered as voters. Traditionally, the first results were from Dixville Notch and Hart's Location , both New Hampshire . The elections are held here right after midnight . Voting ended on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 6 a.m.CET .

    Result and analysis

    Barack Obama won 51.1 percent of the vote, while Mitt Romney only got around 47.2 percent. Thus Obama won with 332 votes to 206 against. Since in 48 of the 50 states the electors automatically go to the candidate with the relative majority of the votes, the media interest on election evening is not concentrated on states like California and New York (Democratic) or Texas and Oklahoma (Republican), even though they are sometimes very populous and therefore also many electoral votes are given. Swing states in this election, however, were Colorado , Florida , Nevada , New Hampshire , North Carolina , Ohio and Virginia , and apart from North Carolina they went to Obama, which meant that Obama won the election with 303 electors late in the American evening, even though he was largest Swing State Florida the result was only known a few days later. Here Obama was able to secure the state's 29 electors with less than a percent lead.

    The turnout was around 59 percent, which is a slight decrease compared to 2008. The demographic differences between the respective groups of voters were particularly evident. Barack Obama was particularly popular among African American and Hispanic immigrants ( Latinos ). Of the Afro-American voters, 93 percent were in favor of him, compared to 69 percent of the Latinos. Among the White Americans with predominantly European roots, Romney was able to prevail with 59 percent. The difference in voting behavior was particularly pronounced in terms of the age of the respective voters, while Obama was particularly convincing among young voters between 18 and 29 years of age, Romney recorded a clear majority among seniors over 65 years of age. In terms of gender distribution, the 2012 presidential election represented the largest difference between men and women in US history. Obama achieved 55 percent of women in the election. Romney was able to win 44 percent of the voters, who combined 53 percent of the vote. In comparison, 45 percent of the men were in favor of Obama, while 52 percent were in favor of the Republican challenger. Incumbent Obama was also able to assert himself with homosexuals . Obama's approval was also among the greatest in large-scale urbanized areas, while Romney usually achieved a clear majority in rural areas.

    Obama's eventual victory turned out to be clearer than most polls predicted, which predicted an extremely close race.

    On the basis of the election results, the electoral committee met on December 17, 2012 and re-elected Barack Obama as president and his deputy Joe Biden again as vice-president with 332 of the total of 538 votes of the body. On January 20, 2013, Obama and Biden took the oath of office again under the constitution. Since that day fell on a Sunday, the inauguration celebrations took place on the following Monday.

    After James Madison in 1812 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and 1944, Barack Obama is only the third US president to remain under the result of the first candidacy on his (successful) re-election. With Roosevelt, however, it was the second and third re-election, where he did not achieve the values ​​of his two previous electoral victories (the constitutional limit on terms of office was introduced a few years later). Andrew Jackson received fewer percentages in the popular election in 1832 , but more electors than in his first election victory in 1828 . Woodrow Wilson, on the other hand, was able to win more votes in his confirmation in 1916 than in 1912 , while the result in the electoral committee was much tighter than four years earlier.

    In addition, Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 to win an absolute majority of the vote twice. Since Roosevelt, after Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Jimmy Carter in 1976, he was only the third Democrat to receive an absolute majority of the votes ( Harry S. Truman 1948 , John F. Kennedy 1960 and Bill Clinton 1992 and 1996 were only with a relative majority Majority elected in the Popular Vote ).

    The Republicans lost both the home state of Mitt Romney, Massachusetts, and Paul Ryan's, Wisconsin . Romney lost Massachusetts with more than 23 Prozepunkten residue, which since John C. Frémont in the election in 1856 represented the worst result for a candidate of a larger People's Party in its home state. Unlike Frémont, Romney also failed to win a county in his state. Mitt Romney won the most votes in each county in the states of Utah , Oklahoma and West Virginia , while Obama won the most votes in Vermont , Massachusetts , Rhode Island and Hawaii .

    Criticism of the election process

    While the election was still in progress, the member of the Bundestag Jürgen Klimke ( CDU ) , who was sent by the OSCE as an election observer, was critical of the election process. It was only possible to visit polling stations to a limited extent, and the registration of voters was often incomprehensible. In addition, the sometimes long waiting times of over an hour in front of the polling stations are unreasonable, as is indirect electoral influence through pictures of the incumbent US President Obama in some polling stations.

    See also

    literature

    • Jan Philipp Burgard: Learning to win from Obama or "Yes, we yawn!" ?. The election campaign of the century and the lessons for political communication in Germany . 2nd expanded edition, Nomos, Baden-Baden 2012, ISBN 978-3-8329-7970-6 .

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. a b Official election results (PDF; 193 kB)
    2. US election campaign: Obama speaks out for gay marriage for the first time. In: Spiegel Online . January 5, 2017, archived from the original on May 10, 2012 ; Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
    3. Tom Mc Carthy: Ron Paul suspends presidential campaign - but supporters stay loyal. In: theguardian.com. May 14, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    4. US presidential election 2012: Newt Gingrich gives up. In: Spiegel Online . April 25, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
    5. ^ Frank Herrmann werk = derstandard.at : Santorum gives up the fight for candidacy. April 10, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    6. Glen Johnson, Shira Schoenberg: 'Buddy' Roemer announces end to GOP presidential campaign - The Boston Globe. In: articles.boston.com. February 22, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    7. Matthias Kolb: Rick Perry gives up as a presidential candidate - a cowboy rides home. In: sueddeutsche.de . January 19, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    8. Support for Romney: Huntsman gets out. In: n-tv.de. January 16, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    9. Aaron Zitner: Bachmann Ends Presidential Bid. In: online.wsj.com. January 5, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    10. ^ Gary Johnson to Drop Out of GOP Race to Run as Libertarian. In: foxnews.com. December 21, 2011, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    11. US Republicans: Herman Cain drops out of presidential race. In: Spiegel Online . December 3, 2011, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    12. ^ Sarah Wheaton: McCotter End's Long-Shot Presidential Bid. In: thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com. September 22, 2011, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    13. Michael D. Shear, Jeff Zeleny: Pawlenty Drops Out of Republican Race. In: thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com. August 12, 2011, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    14. US presidential election campaign: Republicans send Romney into the race ( memento from August 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de, August 29, 2012 (accessed on August 29, 2012).
    15. Gregory Wallace: Romney hits 'magic number' for GOP nomination. In: us.cnn.com. May 30, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    16. ^ The Green Papers: Presidential Primaries 2012 - Republican Pledged and Unpledged Delegate Summary , June 25, 2012.
    17. ^ A b Sebastian Fischer: Frustration with Romney & Co .: Republicans long for the Redeemer. In: Spiegel Online . March 9, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    18. US election campaign: Condemned man disputes Obama votes - tagesschau.de ( Memento from May 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
    19. Rüdiger Paulert: Presidential election campaign in the USA: Flaming appeal, enthusiastic democrats ( memento from September 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de, September 6, 2012 (accessed on September 6, 2012).
    20. ^ Federal Election Commission. In: fec.gov. February 3, 2011, archived from the original on January 6, 2017 ; accessed on January 5, 2017 .
    21. ^ A b Federal Election Commission. Retrieved December 18, 2012 .
    22. BAYER donates to Republicans. In: cbgnetwork.org. July 23, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    23. Federal Election Commission ( Memento of October 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    24. Sebastian Fischer: US election polls: Panic in the jungle of opinion polls. In: Spiegel Online . October 10, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    25. http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/sandyromneyobama100.html ( Memento from November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
    26. Real Clear Politics - President Obama vs. Mitt Romney
    27. ^ Real Clear Politics - Electoral College Map: State polls for the presidential election
    28. Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections : State Polls for Presidential Elections
    29. Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections : State Polls for Presidential Elections - Electoral College Map
    30. Electoral-Vote.com: State polls for the presidential election and the Senate
    31. Huffington Post Pollster: surveys by state for presidential election
    32. ^ Real Clear Politics - President Obama Job Approval
    33. Real Clear Politics - Obama & Romney: Favorable / Unfavorable
    34. ^ Real Clear Politics - Republican National Polls
    35. Real Clear Politics - 2012 Republican Popular Vote
    36. http://www.gmx.net/themen/nachrichten/us-wahlen/389vm1a-live-ticker-usa-waehlen-praesidents ( Memento from November 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
    37. Start of the US elections: stalemate between Obama and Romney in the mini-village of Dixville Notch. In: Spiegel Online . November 6, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    38. jba / cbe / dn / ps / mp: Retirees for Romney, Hispanics for Obama. In: Focus Online . November 6, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    39. Election Results - 2012 Election Center. In: edition.cnn.com. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
    40. Reiner Metzger: Why Obama won: The white man no longer wins an election. In: taz.de . November 7, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    41. Laura Bassett: Gender Gap In 2012 Election Aided Obama Win . In: Huffington Post , Nov. 7, 2012.
    42. Tagesschau: Graphics on the outcome of the US election
    43. Election Results - 2012 Election Center. In: cnn.com. December 10, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 .
    44. Karsten Kammholz: German OSCE observer criticizes US election. Welt Online , November 7, 2012, accessed November 7, 2012 .