The story
On November 6, 2012, President Barack Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and private equity executive. Obama won 332 electoral votes and 51.1 percent of the popular vote to Romney's 206 and 47.2 percent. He lost Indiana and North Carolina from his 2008 map but held every other swing state, including Ohio, Florida and Virginia.
The economy was still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, and unemployment stood near 8 percent. Romney argued his business experience could speed growth and promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Obama's 2010 health law, even though it resembled the plan he had signed in Massachusetts. Obama's campaign portrayed Romney as out of touch, helped by a secretly recorded video in which Romney dismissed 47 percent of Americans as dependent on government. It was the first presidential race after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and super PACs spent hundreds of millions of dollars. Obama's data-driven turnout operation was widely studied afterward.
Why it mattered
- Obama's win secured the Affordable Care Act against repeal while he remained in office.
- Republicans' post-election review urged outreach to Latino and younger voters, advice the 2016 nominee largely rejected.
- Data analytics and micro-targeting became standard tools in campaigns after 2012.
Sources
- Presidential Election of 2012 (election statistics) The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara
- Nate Silver calls all 50 states correctly in Tuesday night's presidential vote FOX6 Milwaukee
- Romney scorns Obama voters in secret video Al Jazeera
Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made
Community notes
Loading notes…