2012 Presidential Election

The 2012 United States Presidential Election was the 57th quadrennial United States presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. The Democrat ticket of Incumbent President Barack Obama of Illinois and Incumbent Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware defeated the Republican ticket of Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Former Representative Newt Gringich of Georgia.

The Republicans experienced a competitive primary. Huckabee was consistently competitive in the polls but faced challenges from a number of other candidates. Huckabee secured his party's nomination at the RNC, defeating Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gringich. Barack Obama faced minimal opposition to secure his party's nomination.

Obama defeated Huckabee easily, winning a majority of the Electoral College and the popular vote. Obama won 362 electoral votes and 51.62% of the popular vote compared to Huckabees' 176 electoral votes and 46.58%, a landslide victory still, but not as big as Obama's victory in 2008.

Obama won all of the swing states identified by The Washington Post in the 2012 election and also won Montana for the second straight election, a state that was favored for Huckabee, and Arizona, a state that hadn't voted for the Democrats since 1996, and before that, since 1948.