2012 United States presidential election in Illinois


The 2012 United States presidential election in Illinois 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. Illinois voters chose 20 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. The Obama/Biden ticket won Illinois with 57.60% of the popular vote to Romney/Ryan's 40.73%, thus winning the state's twenty electoral votes by a margin of 16.87%.
Obama's victory continued a Democratic winning streak in the state - with the Democratic candidate having carried Illinois through the six consecutive elections. The last Republican to win Illinois in a presidential election was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Election information

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for congress and those for state offices.

Turnout

For the state-run primaries, turnout was 21.72%, with 1,586,171 votes cast. For the general election, turnout was 69.70%, with 5,242,014 votes cast.

Primaries

Democratic

Incumbent president Barack Obama won the Democratic primary. Obama was running for reelection without a major opponent.
Obama won all 189 of the state's bound delegates.
Illinois Democratic primary, 2012---
CandidateVotesPercentageDelegates
Barack Obama 652,58399.98%189
Randall Terry1340.02%0
Totals652,717100.00%189

Republican

The 2012 Illinois Republican primary took place on March 20, 2012.

Results

While Obama only won 23% of the counties in Illinois, most of the counties he won were heavily populated. His 17-point victory can be largely attributed to his performance in Cook County, which encompasses the Chicago Metropolitan Area. He also won the once Republican favored collar counties. Obama won Dupage County, Will County, and Lake County. He also performed well in the East St. Louis area.

Results by county