2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

| [[File:Tennessee Presidential Election Results 2012.svg|350px]] | County results | [[File:TN-2012-pres-districts.svg|350px]] | Congressional district results | [[File:2012 TN Pres.svg|350px]] |Precinct results}} Romney Obama Tie/No Data

The 2012 United States presidential election in Tennessee was held on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Tennessee voters chose 11 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.

Romney easily carried Tennessee's 11 electoral votes, with 59.42% of the statewide vote to Obama's 39.04% and a 20.38% margin of victory. Tennessee has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1996, when Bill Clinton of neighboring Arkansas won it along with many other Southern states, nor has the state done so with a majority of the vote share since Jimmy Carter of neighboring Georgia carried it in 1976. Thus, Tennessee has been seen as part of the modern-day red wall in the 21st century. After 1996, the state has been growing more Republican with almost each election.

Winning Tennessee by 501,621 votes, Mitt Romney achieved his second-largest margin of victory by vote count nationwide, surpassed only by his 1,261,719-vote margin in Texas, also located in the South. Romney gained ground in every county, significantly outperforming prior GOP presidential candidates in rural areas, particularly in Middle Tennessee. Notably, Romney also flipped two counties, Houston and Jackson, to the Republican column. Both of these majority-white counties had been Democratic strongholds with their strong ties to secessionism: they had each only voted for a Republican presidential nominee once prior to this election, in 1928 and 1920, respectively. Thus, Obama became the first Democrat to be elected without either county. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time in which Hardeman County was won by the Democratic presidential nominee.

As consistent with the rest of the country, Obama carried heavily populated and diverse counties. The largest county, Shelby, was won by Obama by a 26.05% margin due to it being home to Memphis, Tennessee's largest city. In addition, the home of the state capital of Nashville, Davidson County, went to Obama by 18.53%. Hardeman and Haywood counties, both low-populated suburbs of Memphis, also went to Obama due to their high African American populations (42.2% and 50.6%, respectively). However, rural areas – including areas in the northwestern portion of the state that had long favored Democratic candidates – saw heavy margins for Romney, allowing him to offset Obama's wins in large cities. The eastern region of the state in Appalachia, some of the most historically Republican and Unionist counties in the country, saw margins of over 70% for the Republican ticket. This was the first election since 1908 in which Tennessee backed the national loser a second consecutive time. Obama is the only Democrat to ever win two terms without carrying the state at least once.

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Huffington Post		November 6, 2012
CNN		November 6, 2012
New York Times		November 6, 2012
Washington Post		November 6, 2012
RealClearPolitics		November 6, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball		November 5, 2012
FiveThirtyEight		November 6, 2012

Results

Party	Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,462,330	59.42%	11
Democratic	Barack Obama (incumbent)	Joe Biden (incumbent)	960,709	39.04%	0
Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	18,623	0.67%	0
Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	6,515	0.26%	0
Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	6,022	0.24%	0
Justice	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	2,639	0.11%	0
American Third Position	Merlin Miller	Virginia D. Abernethy	1,739	0.07%	0
Totals	2,458,577	100.00%	11

By county

County	Mitt Romney
Republican	Barack Obama
Democratic	Various candidates
Other parties	Margin	Total	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Totals	1,462,330	59.42%	960,709	39.04%	37,865	1.54%	501,621	20.38%	2,460,904
	Anderson		18,968		63.95%		10,122		34.13%		569		1.92%		8,846		29.82%		29,659
	Bedford		10,034		69.46%		4,211		29.15%		200		1.39%		5,823		40.31%		14,445
	Benton		3,850		61.84%		2,258		36.27%		118		1.89%		1,592		25.57%		6,226
	Bledsoe		3,022		69.33%		1,267		29.07%		70		1.60%		1,755		40.26%		4,359
	Blount		35,441		71.98%		12,934		26.27%		859		1.75%		22,507		45.71%		49,234
	Bradley		27,422		75.97%		8,037		22.27%		637		1.76%		19,385		53.70%		36,096
	Campbell		8,604		71.10%		3,328		27.50%		169		1.40%		5,276		43.60%		12,101
	Cannon		3,309		66.54%		1,564		31.45%		100		2.01%		1,745		35.09%		4,973
	Carroll		7,225		66.58%		3,475		32.02%		151		1.40%		3,750		34.56%		10,851
	Carter		15,503		75.20%		4,789		23.23%		325		1.57%		10,714		51.97%		20,617
	Cheatham		10,268		67.63%		4,659		30.69%		255		1.68%		5,609		36.94%		15,182
	Chester		4,684		73.07%		1,624		25.34%		102		1.59%		3,060		47.73%		6,410
	Claiborne		7,617		74.84%		2,433		23.90%		128		1.26%		5,184		50.94%		10,178
	Clay		1,747		61.95%		1,037		36.77%		36		1.28%		710		25.18%		2,820
	Cocke		8,459		73.85%		2,804		24.48%		191		1.67%		5,655		49.37%		11,454
	Coffee		13,023		67.62%		5,870		30.48%		366		1.90%		7,153		37.14%		19,259
	Crockett		3,783		68.81%		1,669		30.36%		46		0.83%		2,114		38.45%		5,498
	Cumberland		18,653		73.73%		6,261		24.75%		384		1.52%		12,392		48.98%		25,298
	Davidson		97,622		39.76%		143,120		58.29%		4,792		1.95%		-45,498		-18.53%		245,534
	Decatur		2,874		67.61%		1,303		30.65%		74		1.74%		1,571		36.96%		4,251
	DeKalb		4,143		64.40%		2,174		33.79%		116		1.81%		1,969		30.61%		6,433
	Dickson		11,296		63.34%		6,233		34.95%		306		1.71%		5,063		28.39%		17,835
	Dyer		9,921		71.81%		3,757		27.19%		138		1.00%		6,164		44.62%		13,816
	Fayette		12,689		64.83%		6,688		34.17%		197		1.00%		6,001		30.66%		19,574
	Fentress		5,243		76.04%		1,561		22.64%		91		1.32%		3,682		53.40%		6,895
	Franklin		10,262		63.66%		5,603		34.76%		254		1.58%		4,659		28.90%		16,119
	Gibson		12,883		65.51%		6,564		33.38%		220		1.11%		6,319		32.13%		19,667
	Giles		6,915		64.03%		3,760		34.82%		124		1.15%		3,155		29.21%		10,799
	Grainger		5,470		75.43%		1,668		23.00%		114		1.57%		3,802		52.43%		7,252
	Greene		17,245		72.19%		6,225		26.06%		417		1.75%		11,020		46.13%		23,887
	Grundy		2,516		59.38%		1,643		38.78%		78		1.84%		873		20.60%		4,237
	Hamblen		14,522		72.49%		5,234		26.13%		276		1.38%		9,288		46.36%		20,032
	Hamilton		79,933		56.39%		58,836		41.51%		2,972		2.10%		21,097		14.88%		141,741
	Hancock		1,527		74.63%		475		23.22%		44		2.15%		1,052		51.41%		2,046
	Hardeman		4,865		46.60%		5,482		52.51%		92		0.89%		-617		-5.91%		10,439
	Hardin		7,886		75.14%		2,467		23.51%		142		1.35%		5,419		51.63%		10,495
	Hawkins		14,382		72.50%		5,088		25.65%		367		1.85%		9,294		46.85%		19,837
	Haywood		2,960		39.11%		4,569		60.36%		40		0.53%		-1,609		-21.25%		7,569
	Henderson		7,421		73.80%		2,517		25.03%		117		1.17%		4,904		48.77%		10,055
	Henry		8,193		64.31%		4,339		34.06%		207		1.63%		3,854		30.25%		12,739
	Hickman		4,758		62.59%		2,698		35.49%		146		1.92%		2,060		27.10%		7,602
	Houston		1,579		52.16%		1,400		46.25%		48		1.59%		179		5.91%		3,027
	Humphreys		3,833		55.85%		2,905		42.33%		125		1.82%		928		13.52%		6,863
	Jackson		2,383		56.96%		1,739		41.56%		62		1.48%		644		15.40%		4,184
	Jefferson		13,038		74.25%		4,232		24.10%		289		1.65%		8,806		50.15%		17,559
	Johnson		4,611		74.44%		1,483		23.94%		100		1.62%		3,128		50.50%		6,194
	Knox		109,707		63.60%		59,399		34.43%		3,401		1.97%		50,308		29.17%		172,507
	Lake		1,163		55.73%		884		42.36%		40		1.91%		279		13.37%		2,087
	Lauderdale		4,616		53.12%		4,011		46.16%		62		0.72%		605		6.96%		8,689
	Lawrence		10,770		70.77%		4,237		27.84%		212		1.39%		6,533		42.93%		15,219
	Lewis		3,117		66.40%		1,447		30.83%		130		2.77%		1,670		35.57%		4,694
	Lincoln		9,803		73.88%		3,290		24.80%		175		1.32%		6,513		49.08%		13,268
	Loudon		16,707		75.69%		5,058		22.91%		308		1.40%		11,649		52.78%		22,073
	Macon		5,260		76.18%		1,552		22.48%		93		1.34%		3,708		53.70%		6,905
	Madison		21,993		54.03%		18,367		45.13%		342		0.84%		3,626		8.90%		40,702
	Marion		6,272		60.26%		3,953		37.98%		184		1.76%		2,319		22.28%		10,409
	Marshall		6,832		63.61%		3,725		34.68%		184		1.71%		3,107		28.93%		10,741
	Maury		20,708		62.74%		11,825		35.83%		473		1.43%		8,883		26.91%		33,006
	McMinn		12,967		72.71%		4,609		25.84%		258		1.45%		8,358		46.87%		17,834
	McNairy		7,015		71.57%		2,645		26.98%		142		1.45%		4,370		44.59%		9,802
	Meigs		2,734		68.97%		1,163		29.34%		67		1.69%		1,571		39.63%		3,964
	Monroe		11,731		71.80%		4,372		26.76%		235		1.44%		7,359		45.04%		16,338
	Montgomery		30,245		54.28%		24,499		43.97%		976		1.75%		5,746		10.31%		55,720
	Moore		2,053		73.35%		705		25.19%		41		1.46%		1,348		48.16%		2,799
	Morgan		4,669		71.79%		1,725		26.52%		110		1.69%		2,944		45.27%		6,504
	Obion		8,814		71.68%		3,321		27.01%		162		1.31%		5,493		44.67%		12,297
	Overton		4,775		62.30%		2,805		36.60%		84		1.10%		1,970		25.70%		7,664
	Perry		1,578		60.21%		992		37.85%		51		1.94%		586		22.36%		2,621
	Pickett		1,712		69.79%		712		29.03%		29		1.18%		1,000		40.76%		2,453
	Polk		4,108		67.80%		1,856		30.63%		95		1.57%		2,252		37.17%		6,059
	Putnam		17,254		67.66%		7,802		30.60%		444		1.74%		9,452		37.06%		25,500
	Rhea		7,802		73.67%		2,628		24.82%		160		1.51%		5,174		48.85%		10,590
	Roane		14,724		69.82%		6,018		28.53%		348		1.65%		8,706		41.29%		21,090
	Robertson		17,643		67.11%		8,290		31.53%		356		1.36%		9,353		35.58%		26,289
	Rutherford		60,846		61.56%		36,414		36.84%		1,588		1.60%		24,432		24.72%		98,848
	Scott		5,117		76.74%		1,452		21.78%		99		1.48%		3,665		54.96%		6,668
	Sequatchie		3,541		68.72%		1,489		28.90%		123		2.38%		2,052		39.82%		5,153
	Sevier		25,984		76.73%		7,418		21.91%		462		1.36%		18,566		54.82%		33,864
	Shelby		135,649		36.50%		232,443		62.55%		3,524		0.95%		-96,794		-26.05%		371,616
	Smith		4,495		63.41%		2,470		34.84%		124		1.75%		2,025		28.57%		7,089
	Stewart		2,963		57.93%		2,069		40.45%		83		1.62%		894		17.48%		5,115
	Sullivan		43,562		72.74%		15,321		25.58%		1,004		1.68%		28,241		47.16%		59,887
	Sumner		46,003		70.28%		18,579		28.38%		875		1.34%		27,424		41.90%		65,457
	Tipton		16,672		69.23%		7,133		29.62%		276		1.15%		9,539		39.61%		24,081
	Trousdale		1,612		55.49%		1,240		42.69%		53		1.82%		372		12.80%		2,905
	Unicoi		5,032		71.01%		1,913		27.00%		141		1.99%		3,119		44.01%		7,086
	Union		4,282		73.35%		1,478		25.32%		78		1.33%		2,804		48.03%		5,838
	Van Buren		1,386		60.26%		875		38.04%		39		1.70%		511		22.22%		2,300
	Warren		8,010		61.54%		4,752		36.51%		253		1.95%		3,258		25.03%		13,015
	Washington		32,808		68.30%		14,325		29.82%		899		1.88%		18,483		38.48%		48,032
	Wayne		4,253		77.52%		1,163		21.20%		70		1.28%		3,090		56.32%		5,486
	Weakley		8,605		69.75%		3,548		28.76%		184		1.49%		5,057		40.99%		12,337
	White		6,197		67.80%		2,795		30.58%		148		1.62%		3,402		37.22%		9,140
	Williamson		69,850		72.59%		25,142		26.13%		1,233		1.28%		44,708		46.46%		96,225
	Wilson		36,109		69.98%		14,695		28.48%		793		1.54%		21,414		41.50%		51,597

| | Democratic Republican

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Houston (largest city: Erin)
• Jackson (largest town: Gainesboro)

By congressional district

Mitt Romney swept the state and carried seven of the state's nine congressional districts, all represented by Republicans. Barack Obama carried the state's two congressional districts, the 5th and 9th, anchored by the two largest cities of Nashville and Memphis, respectively.

District	Romney	Obama	Representative
72.7%	25.7%
	Phil Roe
67.3%	30.9%		John J. Duncan, Jr.
63.3%	35.1%		Chuck Fleischmann
65.3%	33.1%		Scott DesJarlais
42.5%	55.9%		Jim Cooper
69.1%	29.5%		Diane Black
65.7%	32.9%		Marsha Blackburn
66.1%	32.8%		Stephen Fincher
20.9%	78.3%		Steve Cohen