The 2012 United States presidential election in California 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. California voters chose 55 electors, the most out of any state, 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.
Prior to the election, every major news network considered California to be a state Obama would win or a safe blue state. According to Secretary of State Debra Bowen's website, the President won the popular vote with 60.24%, with Mitt Romney in second place at 37.12%, and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in third at 1.10%. The Democrats have won the state in every presidential election after Republican George H. W. Bush won the state in 1988.
As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last presidential election in which the nominee from the Republican Party won Orange CountyâÂÂa longtime, traditional bastion for the national GOPâÂÂand Nevada County. With its 55 electoral votes, California was Obama's largest electoral prize in 2012.
The 2012 California Democratic presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
|- ! Candidate ! Popular vote ! % ! Delegates |- | style="text-align:left;" | Barack Obama (incumbent) | 2,075,905 | 100% | 547.0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Darcy Richardson (write-in) | 221 | 0.00% | 0.0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Michael W.R. Meyer, Jr. (write-in) | 129 | 0.00% | 0.0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Louis Alberto Ramos, Jr. (write-in) | 54 | 0.00% | 0.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Uncommitted | colspan="2" | 62.0 |- ! Total ! 2,076,309 ! 100% ! 609
The 2012 California Republican Party presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries. 169 delegates were chosen, for a total of 172 delegates at the 2012 Republican National Convention.
As noted in the Green Papers for California, "159 district delegates are to be bound to presidential contenders based on the primary results in each of the 53 congressional districts: each congressional district is assigned 3 National Convention delegates and the presidential contender receiving the greatest number of votes in that district will receive all 3 of that district's National Convention delegates. 10 at-large delegates (10 base at-large delegates plus 0 bonus delegate) are to be bound to the presidential contender receiving the greatest number of votes in the primary statewide. In addition, 3 party leaders, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the California's Republican Party, will attend the convention as unpledged delegates by virtue of their position."
|- ! Candidate ! Popular vote ! % ! Delegates |- | style="text-align:left;" | Mitt Romney | 1,530,513 | 79.51% | 169 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Ron Paul | 199,246 | 10.35% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Rick Santorum (withdrawn) | 102,258 | 5.31% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Newt Gingrich (withdrawn) | 72,022 | 3.74% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer, III (withdrawn) | 12,520 | 0.65% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Fred Karger | 8,393 | 0.44% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Jeremy Hannon (write-in) | 11 | 0.00% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Donald James Gonzales (write-in) | 5 | 0.00% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;" | Sheldon Yeu Howard (write-in) | 2 | 0.00% | 0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Uncommitted | colspan="2" | 3 |- ! Total ! 1,924,970 ! 100% ! 172
The 2012 California Green Party presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Green Party presidential primaries.
The 2012 California Libertarian Party presidential primary took place on June 5, 2012, as part of the 2012 Libertarian Party presidential primaries.
The primary was non-binding, and took place after Gary Johnson had already won the Libertarian nomination at the Party's 2012 convention.
The American Independent Party, a far-right and paleoconservative political party that formed when endorsing the candidacy of George Wallace in 1968 held a small presidential primary on June 5. It was won by Edward C. Noonan. However, the party would instead opt to nominate Tom Hoefling for president.
Write-in candidate access:
Obama won 41 of 53 congressional districts, including three held by Republicans.
Official winners by city.
Cities & unincorporated areas that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Cities & unincorporated areas that flipped from Republican to Democratic