The 2012 United States presidential election in North 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. North 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.
Mitt Romney handily won the state with 58.32% of the vote to Barack Obama's 38.69%, a 19.63% margin of victory, considerably higher than McCain's 8.65% margin of victory. He flipped seven counties that Obama carried in 2008, including Cass County, home to Fargo, the state's largest city. Obama was the first Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912 to win without Mountrail County. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time a Democrat won Benson, Ransom, Sargent, and Steele counties.
Despite Romney's comfortable margin of victory, Democratic candidate Heidi Heitkamp narrowly won the concurrent senate election.
Caucuses
Republican caucuses
The 2012 North Dakota Republican caucuses were held on March 6, 2012. North Dakota has 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention; despite Rick Santorum's nominal win in the preference poll conducted during the caucuses, the majority of the delegates elected by the state party convention later in March said they supported Romney.
Convention controversy
The North Dakota Republican Party held its state convention from Friday, March 30 to Sunday, April 1, where twenty-five unbound National Convention delegates were elected. Rick Santorum had won the straw poll at the Legislative Districts caucuses on Super Tuesday with a large margin to Ron Paul in second place and Mitt Romney in third place. The party leadership's recommended slate of delegates was to reflect this straw poll result. However, the slate gave Romney a large majority of the delegates. Former NDGOP Chairman Gary Emineth called the vote undemocratic and a railroad job.
General election
Polling
‡Likely primary voters
Results
By county
- Cass (largest city: Fargo)
- Eddy (largest city: New Rockford)
- Grand Forks (largest city: Grand Forks)
- Mountrail (largest city: Stanley)
- Nelson (largest city: Lakota)
- Towner (largest city: Cando)
- Traill (largest city: Mayville)
By congressional district
Due to the state's low population, only one congressional district is allocated. This district is an at-large district, because it covers the entire state, and thus is equivalent to the statewide election results.