South Dakota — 2012 presidential election
Recent presidential results
Akashicstate2012 presidential electionSouth Dakota · PresidentRomneyR+18.0
How it voted
Share of the 2012 vote
| Mitt Romney ✓Republican | 57.9% | 210,610 |
|---|---|---|
| Barack ObamaDemocratic | 39.9% | 145,039 |
| OtherAll other candidates | 2.2% | 8,166 |
2012presidential margin
D+60R+60
66 counties, each filled by 2012 D-vs-R margin. Hover any county for its result.
South Dakota cast 3 electoral votes this cycle.
County-level results (66 counties) — table
| County | Winner | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora County, SD | Republican | R+17.7 |
| Beadle County, SD | Republican | R+18.6 |
| Bennett County, SD | Republican | R+6.5 |
| Bon Homme County, SD | Republican | R+21.6 |
| Brookings County, SD | Republican | R+3.2 |
| Brown County, SD | Republican | R+6.7 |
| Brule County, SD | Republican | R+28.4 |
| Buffalo County, SD | Democratic | D+47.7 |
| Butte County, SD | Republican | R+49.2 |
| Campbell County, SD | Republican | R+58.8 |
| Charles Mix County, SD | Republican | R+19.8 |
| Clark County, SD | Republican | R+19.4 |
| Clay County, SD | Democratic | D+15.4 |
| Codington County, SD | Republican | R+18.3 |
| Corson County, SD | Democratic | D+11.1 |
| Custer County, SD | Republican | R+38.2 |
| Davison County, SD | Republican | R+21.5 |
| Day County, SD | Democratic | D+6.2 |
| Deuel County, SD | Republican | R+10.8 |
| Dewey County, SD | Democratic | D+28.7 |
| Douglas County, SD | Republican | R+59.3 |
| Edmunds County, SD | Republican | R+33.2 |
| Fall River County, SD | Republican | R+31.8 |
| Faulk County, SD | Republican | R+38.5 |
| Grant County, SD | Republican | R+15.0 |
| Gregory County, SD | Republican | R+42.2 |
| Haakon County, SD | Republican | R+73.4 |
| Hamlin County, SD | Republican | R+31.6 |
| Hand County, SD | Republican | R+36.1 |
| Hanson County, SD | Republican | R+35.9 |
| Harding County, SD | Republican | R+75.2 |
| Hughes County, SD | Republican | R+29.8 |
| Hutchinson County, SD | Republican | R+44.6 |
| Hyde County, SD | Republican | R+46.7 |
| Jackson County, SD | Republican | R+21.2 |
| Jerauld County, SD | Republican | R+8.5 |
| Jones County, SD | Republican | R+62.7 |
| Kingsbury County, SD | Republican | R+13.8 |
| Lake County, SD | Republican | R+11.1 |
| Lawrence County, SD | Republican | R+26.9 |
| Lincoln County, SD | Republican | R+25.6 |
| Lyman County, SD | Republican | R+20.9 |
| Marshall County, SD | Democratic | D+8.7 |
| McCook County, SD | Republican | R+28.7 |
| McPherson County, SD | Republican | R+53.4 |
| Meade County, SD | Republican | R+42.9 |
| Mellette County, SD | Republican | R+0.8 |
| Miner County, SD | Republican | R+13.8 |
| Minnehaha County, SD | Republican | R+7.4 |
| Moody County, SD | Republican | R+3.5 |
| Oglala Lakota County, SD | Democratic | D+87.4 |
| Pennington County, SD | Republican | R+29.5 |
| Perkins County, SD | Republican | R+55.7 |
| Potter County, SD | Republican | R+50.0 |
| Roberts County, SD | Democratic | D+9.8 |
| Sanborn County, SD | Republican | R+26.8 |
| Spink County, SD | Republican | R+12.2 |
| Stanley County, SD | Republican | R+40.8 |
| Sully County, SD | Republican | R+52.2 |
| Todd County, SD | Democratic | D+59.2 |
| Tripp County, SD | Republican | R+43.4 |
| Turner County, SD | Republican | R+31.0 |
| Union County, SD | Republican | R+25.2 |
| Walworth County, SD | Republican | R+43.1 |
| Yankton County, SD | Republican | R+12.7 |
| Ziebach County, SD | Democratic | D+16.4 |
South Dakota results by county
66 counties. Third-party and independent votes are reported by the county source as one combined figure; every named candidate is listed in the complete result below.
| Led by | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora County | Romney, Mitt+248 | 80457.4% | 55639.7% | 402.9% | 1,400 |
| Beadle County | Romney, Mitt+1,349 | 4,23058.2% | 2,88139.7% | 1522.1% | 7,263 |
| Bennett County | Romney, Mitt+78 | 62652.0% | 54845.6% | 292.4% | 1,203 |
| Bon Homme County | Romney, Mitt+663 | 1,83059.5% | 1,16738.0% | 772.5% | 3,074 |
| Brookings County | Romney, Mitt+393 | 6,22050.2% | 5,82747.0% | 3532.8% | 12,400 |
| Brown County | Romney, Mitt+1,071 | 8,32151.8% | 7,25045.1% | 4973.1% | 16,068 |
| Brule County | Romney, Mitt+675 | 1,49963.0% | 82434.6% | 562.4% | 2,379 |
| Buffalo County | Obama, Barack H.+306 | 16625.9% | 47273.6% | 30.5% | 641 |
| Butte County | Romney, Mitt+2,071 | 3,07373.0% | 1,00223.8% | 1333.2% | 4,208 |
| Campbell County | Romney, Mitt+463 | 61678.3% | 15319.4% | 182.3% | 787 |
| Charles Mix County | Romney, Mitt+747 | 2,23059.2% | 1,48339.4% | 511.4% | 3,764 |
| Clark County | Romney, Mitt+354 | 1,06758.6% | 71339.2% | 412.3% | 1,821 |
| Clay County | Obama, Barack H.+808 | 2,14741.0% | 2,95556.5% | 1322.5% | 5,234 |
| Codington County | Romney, Mitt+2,108 | 6,69658.1% | 4,58839.8% | 2402.1% | 11,524 |
| Corson County | Obama, Barack H.+133 | 51542.9% | 64854.0% | 373.1% | 1,200 |
| Custer County | Romney, Mitt+1,727 | 3,06267.7% | 1,33529.5% | 1232.7% | 4,520 |
| Davison County | Romney, Mitt+1,715 | 4,75759.7% | 3,04238.2% | 1722.2% | 7,971 |
| Day County | Obama, Barack H.+177 | 1,32045.9% | 1,49752.1% | 561.9% | 2,873 |
| Deuel County | Romney, Mitt+234 | 1,17554.1% | 94143.3% | 552.5% | 2,171 |
| Dewey County | Obama, Barack H.+544 | 66335.0% | 1,20763.7% | 251.3% | 1,895 |
| Douglas County | Romney, Mitt+1,002 | 1,33478.9% | 33219.6% | 241.4% | 1,690 |
| Edmunds County | Romney, Mitt+642 | 1,26465.3% | 62232.1% | 502.6% | 1,936 |
| Fall River County | Romney, Mitt+1,118 | 2,25864.2% | 1,14032.4% | 1183.4% | 3,516 |
| Faulk County | Romney, Mitt+434 | 76567.9% | 33129.4% | 312.8% | 1,127 |
| Grant County | Romney, Mitt+541 | 2,03456.4% | 1,49341.4% | 792.2% | 3,606 |
| Gregory County | Romney, Mitt+908 | 1,50770.1% | 59927.8% | 452.1% | 2,151 |
| Haakon County | Romney, Mitt+802 | 94086.1% | 13812.6% | 141.3% | 1,092 |
| Hamlin County | Romney, Mitt+882 | 1,80364.6% | 92133.0% | 692.5% | 2,793 |
| Hand County | Romney, Mitt+667 | 1,24267.2% | 57531.1% | 311.7% | 1,848 |
| Hanson County | Romney, Mitt+867 | 1,62767.3% | 76031.5% | 291.2% | 2,416 |
| Harding County | Romney, Mitt+556 | 63886.3% | 8211.1% | 192.6% | 739 |
| Hughes County | Romney, Mitt+2,433 | 5,21964.0% | 2,78634.2% | 1501.8% | 8,155 |
| Hutchinson County | Romney, Mitt+1,528 | 2,45171.6% | 92326.9% | 511.5% | 3,425 |
| Hyde County | Romney, Mitt+342 | 53172.4% | 18925.8% | 131.8% | 733 |
| Jackson County | Romney, Mitt+235 | 66159.8% | 42638.5% | 191.7% | 1,106 |
| Jerauld County | Romney, Mitt+86 | 53853.5% | 45244.9% | 161.6% | 1,006 |
| Jones County | Romney, Mitt+382 | 49080.5% | 10817.7% | 111.8% | 609 |
| Kingsbury County | Romney, Mitt+359 | 1,45155.6% | 1,09241.9% | 652.5% | 2,608 |
| Lake County | Romney, Mitt+695 | 3,41954.4% | 2,72443.3% | 1422.3% | 6,285 |
| Lawrence County | Romney, Mitt+3,052 | 7,02561.8% | 3,97335.0% | 3613.2% | 11,359 |
| Lincoln County | Romney, Mitt+5,629 | 13,61162.0% | 7,98236.4% | 3591.6% | 21,952 |
| Lyman County | Romney, Mitt+328 | 93359.5% | 60538.6% | 312.0% | 1,569 |
| Marshall County | Obama, Barack H.+172 | 88944.7% | 1,06153.4% | 371.9% | 1,987 |
| McCook County | Romney, Mitt+750 | 1,65563.3% | 90534.6% | 532.0% | 2,613 |
| McPherson County | Romney, Mitt+649 | 92175.8% | 27222.4% | 221.8% | 1,215 |
| Meade County | Romney, Mitt+4,638 | 7,56669.9% | 2,92827.1% | 3233.0% | 10,817 |
| Mellette County | Romney, Mitt+6 | 38149.5% | 37548.8% | 131.7% | 769 |
| Miner County | Romney, Mitt+157 | 63655.8% | 47942.0% | 252.2% | 1,140 |
| Minnehaha County | Romney, Mitt+5,668 | 40,34252.7% | 34,67445.3% | 1,5672.0% | 76,583 |
| Moody County | Romney, Mitt+106 | 1,53550.6% | 1,42947.1% | 692.3% | 3,033 |
| Oglala Lakota County | Obama, Barack H.+2,749 | 1886.0% | 2,93793.4% | 200.6% | 3,145 |
| Pennington County | Romney, Mitt+13,107 | 28,23263.5% | 15,12534.0% | 1,1072.5% | 44,464 |
| Perkins County | Romney, Mitt+886 | 1,20575.8% | 31920.1% | 664.2% | 1,590 |
| Potter County | Romney, Mitt+690 | 1,02974.5% | 33924.5% | 130.9% | 1,381 |
| Roberts County | Obama, Barack H.+419 | 1,88344.2% | 2,30254.1% | 711.7% | 4,256 |
| Sanborn County | Romney, Mitt+299 | 68861.7% | 38934.9% | 383.4% | 1,115 |
| Spink County | Romney, Mitt+370 | 1,67054.9% | 1,30042.7% | 712.3% | 3,041 |
| Stanley County | Romney, Mitt+628 | 1,06369.0% | 43528.2% | 422.7% | 1,540 |
| Sully County | Romney, Mitt+427 | 61374.9% | 18622.7% | 192.3% | 818 |
| Todd County | Obama, Barack H.+1,478 | 49819.9% | 1,97679.1% | 230.9% | 2,497 |
| Tripp County | Romney, Mitt+1,168 | 1,90570.8% | 73727.4% | 491.8% | 2,691 |
| Turner County | Romney, Mitt+1,304 | 2,71564.5% | 1,41133.5% | 842.0% | 4,210 |
| Union County | Romney, Mitt+1,916 | 4,69861.8% | 2,78236.6% | 1161.5% | 7,596 |
| Walworth County | Romney, Mitt+1,060 | 1,73170.3% | 67127.3% | 602.4% | 2,462 |
| Yankton County | Romney, Mitt+1,269 | 5,49555.1% | 4,22642.4% | 2532.5% | 9,974 |
| Ziebach County | Obama, Barack H.+125 | 31441.3% | 43957.7% | 81.1% | 761 |
complete certified result
South Dakota candidate results
Top three shown first · expand for every reported candidate and write-in category
Source: MIT Election Data + Science Lab — U.S. President 1976–2024 state candidate returns
Nominees: Barack Obama (D) · Mitt Romney (R)
South Dakota's presidential margins
1892–2024, the 2012 contest in context
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1892 | −36.5% |
| 1896 | +0.2% |
| 1900 | −15.6% |
| 1904 | −49.4% |
| 1908 | −23.8% |
| 1912 | +42.1% |
| 1916 | −3.9% |
| 1920 | −41.0% |
| 1924 | −36.3% |
| 1928 | −21.0% |
| 1932 | +29.2% |
| 1936 | +11.5% |
| 1940 | −14.8% |
| 1944 | −16.7% |
| 1948 | −4.8% |
| 1952 | −38.5% |
| 1956 | −16.8% |
| 1960 | −16.4% |
| 1964 | +11.2% |
| 1968 | −11.3% |
| 1972 | −8.6% |
| 1976 | −1.5% |
| 1980 | −28.8% |
| 1984 | −26.5% |
| 1988 | −6.3% |
| 1992 | −3.5% |
| 1996 | −3.5% |
| 2000 | −22.7% |
| 2004 | −21.3% |
| 2008 | −8.4% |
| 2012 | −18.0% |
| 2016 | −29.8% |
| 2020 | −26.2% |
| 2024 | −29.2% |
Same ballot, 2012SD
Source. MIT Election Data + Science Lab — 2012 presidential returns · official county-level results. Real returns — nothing estimated.