2012 United States presidential election
The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election. The incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, were re-elected to a second term. They defeated the Republican ticket of businessman and former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Obama served his second term as President and was succeeded by Donald Trump in 2016, while Biden was elected President four years later by defeating Trump in 2020.
About 2012 United States presidential election in brief
The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. The incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, were re-elected to a second term. They defeated the Republican ticket of businessman and former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Obama defeated Romney, winning a majority of both the Electoral College and the popular vote. Obama was the first incumbent since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 to win reelection with fewer electoral votes and a smaller popular vote margin than had been won in the previous election. This is also the most recent presidential election when the Democratic candidate won the states of Iowa, Ohio, and Florida, along with Maine’s 2nd congressional district. All four major candidates for President and Vice President went on to hold significant public office after this election. Obama served his second term as President and was succeeded by Donald Trump in 2016, while Biden was elected President four years later by defeating Trump in 2020. Romney initially retired from politics and moved to Utah in 2014 but was later elected to the Senate there in 2018, succeeding Orrin Hatch, while Ryan served three more terms in the House and eventually became Speaker from 2015 until his retirement from politics in 2019. The campaigns focused heavily on domestic issues, and debate centered largely around sound responses to the Great Recession. Other issues included long-term federal budget issues, the future of social insurance programs, and the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s marquee legislative program.
This was also the first presidential election since 1944 in which neither candidate had military experience. In 2011, several state legislatures passed new voting laws, especially pertaining to voter identification, with the stated purpose of combating voter fraud. The laws were attacked, however, by the Democratic Party as attempts to suppress voting among its supporters and to improve the Republican Party’s presidential prospects. In addition, the Pennsylvania legislature proposed a plan to change its representation in the electoral college from the traditional winner-take-all model to a district-by-district model. Ultimately, of the nine swing states identified by The Washington Post in the 2012 election, Obama won eight, losing only North Carolina. Obama did not hold onto Indiana, North Carolina, or Nebraska’s 2 second congressional district, but crucially won all 18 \”blue wall\” states and defeated Romney in other swing states the Republicans had won in 2000 and 2004, most notably Colorado, Florida,Ohio, and Virginia. Florida and Iowa barred all felons from voting. Florida, Georgia, Ohio,. Tennessee, and West Virginia’s state legislatures approved measures to shorten early voting periods. Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin passed laws requiring voters to have government-issued IDs before they could cast their ballots. The Obama campaign fought against the Ohio law pushing for a petition and statewide referendum to repeal it in time for the 2012 2012 election. The move was viewed by some as an attempt to reduce Democratic chances of winning the presidency.
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This page is based on the article 2012 United States presidential election published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 19, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
