2012 South Carolina Republican presidential primary

Procedure

Delegate allocation

South Carolina had only 25 delegates up for grabs because it moved its primary to January 21. 11 delegates were awarded for the statewide winner, and two additional delegates were awarded to the winner of each of the seven congressional districts.

Date

The 2012 South Carolina Republican primary was tentatively scheduled to occur on February 28, 2012, much later than the date in 2008, which almost immediately followed the beginning of the year in January 2008. On September 29, 2011, the entire schedule of caucuses and primaries was disrupted, however, when it was announced that the Republican Party of Florida had decided to move up its primary to January 31, in an attempt to bring attention to its own primary contest, and attract the presidential candidates to visit the state. Because of the move, the Republican National Committee decided to strip Florida of half of its delegates. Also as a result, the South Carolina Republican Party, along with Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada then sought to move their primaries and caucuses back into early January. All but Nevada, who agreed to follow Florida, confirmed their caucus and primary dates to take place throughout January, with South Carolina deciding to hold their contest on January 21, 2012. It is an open primary, meaning all registered voters can participate in the primary.

Ballot access

Nine candidates appeared on the presidential primary ballot.

Campaign

During the primary election campaign, the candidates ran on a platform of government reform in Washington. Domestic, foreign and economic policy emerged as the main themes in the election campaign following the onset of the 2008 economic crisis, as well as policies implemented by the Obama administration. This included the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, termed "Obamacare" by its opponents, as well as government spending as a whole.

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the January 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries#South Carolina (January 21)

Results

Main article: Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries

Newt Gingrich won the primary, becoming his first victory of the primary season and netting him 11 statewide delegates. Gingrich won the popular vote in every congressional district except for the 1st, where Mitt Romney finished first, giving Gingrich twelve additional delegates and Romney two delegates.

There were 2,804,231 registered voters, for a turnout of 21.60%.

References

References

1. "GOP bellwether South Carolina shows a tangled race: Pg 1". Christian Science Monitor.
2. "First in the South". Fox News.
3. Falcone, Michael. (September 2, 2011). "South Carolina GOP Officials Hope To Strike Deal With Florida To 'Calm' 2012 Primary Waters". ABC News.
4. "South Carolina Primary Results". The New York Times.
5. Taylor, Steven. (September 29, 2011). "Florida Moves its Primary". Outside the Beltway.
6. Jacobs, Jennifer. (October 25, 2011). "GOP chairman: Florida will be penalized, and 2012 race is now set". Des Moines Register.
7. Nir, David. (October 24, 2011). "Nevada Republicans cave, move caucuses to Feb. 4". Daily Kos.
8. Richard E. Berg-Andersson. "South Carolina Republican". The Green Papers.
9. Whitmire, C. "2012 Republican Presidential Primary Candidates". South Carolina State Election Commission.
10. Kleefeld, Eric. (January 4, 2012). "South Carolina GOP Chairman: 'Anyone Can Win' In Our Primary". [[Talking Points Memo]].
11. (February 3, 2012). "South Carolina Primary". South Carolina State Election Commission.