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United States · Election results history · 2012 president · South Dakota
Election 2012 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

2012 presidential election in South Dakota

Mitt Romney (Republican) beat Barack Obama (Democrat) in South Dakota in 2012, 57.9% to 39.9%, a margin of 18.0 points and 65,571 votes.

South Dakota voted 21.9 points more Republican than the country as a whole, where the margin was D+3.9.

The Republican hold continued from 2008, when John McCain won.

Republicans led in 56 of the 66 counties and Democrats in 10. The largest, Minnehaha, cast 76,583 votes and went to the Republican by 7.4 points. The closest was Mellette, where 6 votes separated the two parties.

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Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

Result

CandidatePartyVotesShare
Mitt Romney won Republican 210,610 57.9%
Barack Obama Democratic 145,039 39.9%
All other candidates 8,166 2.2%
Total363,815

Every county

CountyDemocratRepublicanOthersTotalMargin
Minnehaha 34,674 45.3% 40,342 52.7% 1,567 76,583 R+7.4
Pennington 15,125 34.0% 28,232 63.5% 1,107 44,464 R+29.5
Lincoln 7,982 36.4% 13,611 62.0% 359 21,952 R+25.6
Brown 7,250 45.1% 8,321 51.8% 497 16,068 R+6.7
Brookings 5,827 47.0% 6,220 50.2% 353 12,400 R+3.2
Codington 4,588 39.8% 6,696 58.1% 240 11,524 R+18.3
Lawrence 3,973 35.0% 7,025 61.8% 361 11,359 R+26.9
Meade 2,928 27.1% 7,566 69.9% 323 10,817 R+42.9
Yankton 4,226 42.4% 5,495 55.1% 253 9,974 R+12.7
Hughes 2,786 34.2% 5,219 64.0% 150 8,155 R+29.8
Davison 3,042 38.2% 4,757 59.7% 172 7,971 R+21.5
Union 2,782 36.6% 4,698 61.8% 116 7,596 R+25.2
Beadle 2,881 39.7% 4,230 58.2% 152 7,263 R+18.6
Lake 2,724 43.3% 3,419 54.4% 142 6,285 R+11.1
Clay 2,955 56.5% 2,147 41.0% 132 5,234 D+15.4
Custer 1,335 29.5% 3,062 67.7% 123 4,520 R+38.2
Roberts 2,302 54.1% 1,883 44.2% 71 4,256 D+9.8
Turner 1,411 33.5% 2,715 64.5% 84 4,210 R+31.0
Butte 1,002 23.8% 3,073 73.0% 133 4,208 R+49.2
Charles Mix 1,483 39.4% 2,230 59.2% 51 3,764 R+19.8
Grant 1,493 41.4% 2,034 56.4% 79 3,606 R+15.0
Fall River 1,140 32.4% 2,258 64.2% 118 3,516 R+31.8
Hutchinson 923 26.9% 2,451 71.6% 51 3,425 R+44.6
Oglala Lakota 2,937 93.4% 188 6.0% 20 3,145 D+87.4
Bon Homme 1,167 38.0% 1,830 59.5% 77 3,074 R+21.6
Spink 1,300 42.7% 1,670 54.9% 71 3,041 R+12.2
Moody 1,429 47.1% 1,535 50.6% 69 3,033 R+3.5
Day 1,497 52.1% 1,320 45.9% 56 2,873 D+6.2
Hamlin 921 33.0% 1,803 64.6% 69 2,793 R+31.6
Tripp 737 27.4% 1,905 70.8% 49 2,691 R+43.4
McCook 905 34.6% 1,655 63.3% 53 2,613 R+28.7
Kingsbury 1,092 41.9% 1,451 55.6% 65 2,608 R+13.8
Todd 1,976 79.1% 498 19.9% 23 2,497 D+59.2
Walworth 671 27.3% 1,731 70.3% 60 2,462 R+43.1
Hanson 760 31.5% 1,627 67.3% 29 2,416 R+35.9
Brule 824 34.6% 1,499 63.0% 56 2,379 R+28.4
Deuel 941 43.3% 1,175 54.1% 55 2,171 R+10.8
Gregory 599 27.8% 1,507 70.1% 45 2,151 R+42.2
Marshall 1,061 53.4% 889 44.7% 37 1,987 D+8.7
Edmunds 622 32.1% 1,264 65.3% 50 1,936 R+33.2
Dewey 1,207 63.7% 663 35.0% 25 1,895 D+28.7
Hand 575 31.1% 1,242 67.2% 31 1,848 R+36.1
Clark 713 39.2% 1,067 58.6% 41 1,821 R+19.4
Douglas 332 19.6% 1,334 78.9% 24 1,690 R+59.3
Perkins 319 20.1% 1,205 75.8% 66 1,590 R+55.7
Lyman 605 38.6% 933 59.5% 31 1,569 R+20.9
Stanley 435 28.2% 1,063 69.0% 42 1,540 R+40.8
Aurora 556 39.7% 804 57.4% 40 1,400 R+17.7
Potter 339 24.5% 1,029 74.5% 13 1,381 R+50.0
McPherson 272 22.4% 921 75.8% 22 1,215 R+53.4
Bennett 548 45.6% 626 52.0% 29 1,203 R+6.5
Corson 648 54.0% 515 42.9% 37 1,200 D+11.1
Miner 479 42.0% 636 55.8% 25 1,140 R+13.8
Faulk 331 29.4% 765 67.9% 31 1,127 R+38.5
Sanborn 389 34.9% 688 61.7% 38 1,115 R+26.8
Jackson 426 38.5% 661 59.8% 19 1,106 R+21.2
Haakon 138 12.6% 940 86.1% 14 1,092 R+73.4
Jerauld 452 44.9% 538 53.5% 16 1,006 R+8.5
Sully 186 22.7% 613 74.9% 19 818 R+52.2
Campbell 153 19.4% 616 78.3% 18 787 R+58.8
Mellette 375 48.8% 381 49.5% 13 769 R+0.8
Ziebach 439 57.7% 314 41.3% 8 761 D+16.4
Harding 82 11.1% 638 86.3% 19 739 R+75.2
Hyde 189 25.8% 531 72.4% 13 733 R+46.7
Buffalo 472 73.6% 166 25.9% 3 641 D+47.7
Jones 108 17.7% 490 80.5% 11 609 R+62.7

Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Sources and how the results were checked.

South Dakota in every presidential election we hold

YearWinnerMargin
2024 Donald Trump (R) R+29.2
2020 Donald Trump (R) R+26.2
2016 Donald Trump (R) R+29.8
2012 Mitt Romney (R) R+18.0
2008 John McCain (R) R+8.4
2004 George W. Bush (R) R+21.5
2000 George W. Bush (R) R+22.7
1996 Bob Dole (R) R+3.5
1992 George H. W. Bush (R) R+3.5
1988 George H. W. Bush (R) R+6.3
1984 Ronald Reagan (R) R+26.5
1980 Ronald Reagan (R) R+28.8
1976 Gerald Ford (R) R+1.5
1972 Richard Nixon (R) R+8.6
1968 Richard Nixon (R) R+11.3
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson (D) D+11.2
1960 Richard Nixon (R) R+16.4
1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) R+16.8
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) R+38.5
1948 Thomas E. Dewey (R) R+4.8
1944 Thomas E. Dewey (R) R+16.7
1940 Wendell Willkie (R) R+14.8
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+11.5
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) D+29.2
1928 Herbert Hoover (R) R+21.0
1924 Calvin Coolidge (R) R+36.3
1920 Warren G. Harding (R) R+41.0
1916 Charles Evans Hughes (R) R+3.9
1912 Theodore Roosevelt (other)
1908 William Howard Taft (R) R+23.8
1904 Theodore Roosevelt (R) R+49.4
1900 William McKinley (R) R+15.6
1896 William Jennings Bryan (D) D+0.2
1892 Benjamin Harrison (R) R+36.6