The 2012 Colorado Republican presidential caucuses took place on 7 February 2012. It was part of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
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Colorado results by county
Rick Santorum
Mitt Romney
Newt Gingrich
Tie |
The Republican caucuses were held on "Republican Party Precinct Caucus Day" (February 7, 2012).[1] Caucus locations opened on 9 PM, February 7, 2012,[2] with 36 delegates at stake; 33 of which are tied to the caucuses while 3 are unpledged RNC delegates.[3] The event occurred alongside the Minnesota Republican caucuses as well the Missouri Republican primary. The race was widely expected to be won by Mitt Romney even on the day of the caucus, but a strong surge by Rick Santorum across all three races that day carried him to a close victory. However, the delegates were not legally bound to follow voter preferences, and most voted for Romney.
Background
editThe Colorado legislature adopted the caucus system in a special session called by Governor John F. Shafroth in August 1910 as part of a package of progressive reforms. It was seen as a way to limit the power of party bosses and to attract more grassroots involvement. The caucus system was abolished in favor of presidential primaries in 1992 but restored in 2002 with the defeat of Amendment 29[4] and cost considerations. The fully restored Colorado Caucus was in 2004.[5]
Of the candidates in the 2008 Colorado Republican presidential caucuses, two candidates - Mitt Romney and Ron Paul - would return to contest the state in once again 2012. In 2008, these candidates had won 60.11% and 8.42% of the vote respectively.[6]
Polling
editPolling in 2010 and 2011 showed mixed results, with Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich being the favoured candidate depending on the poll. Polls leading up to election day showed Romney as the frontrunner.
Poll source | Date | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Caucus results
Turnout: 66,091 |
Feb. 7, 2012 | Rick Santorum 40.3% |
Mitt Romney
34.9% |
Newt Gingrich
12.8% |
Ron Paul 11.8%, Rick Perry 0.1%, Jon Huntsman 0.1%, Michele Bachmann 0.0%, Others 0.1% |
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±3.2% Sample size: 938 |
Feb. 4–6, 2012 | Mitt Romney 37% |
Rick Santorum
27% |
Newt Gingrich
21% |
Ron Paul 13%, Someone else/Not sure 2% |
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±4.3% Sample size: 527 |
Feb. 4, 2012 | Mitt Romney 40% |
Rick Santorum
26% |
Newt Gingrich
18% |
Ron Paul 12%, Someone else/Not sure 3% |
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±4.4% Sample size: 500 |
Dec. 1–4, 2011 | Newt Gingrich 37% |
Mitt Romney
18% |
Michele Bachmann
9% |
Ron Paul 6%, Rick Perry 4%, Rick Santorum 4%, Jon Huntsman 3%, Gary Johnson 1%, Undecided 16% |
Project New West/Keating Research
Margin of error: ±7.2% Sample size: – |
Sep. 19–22, 2011 | Mitt Romney 24% |
Rick Perry 20% |
Michele Bachmann
7% |
Newt Gingrich 7%, Herman Cain 5%, undecided 19% |
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±5.5% Sample size: 314 |
Aug. 4–7, 2011 | Rick Perry 20% |
Mitt Romney 20% |
Michele Bachmann
12% |
Sarah Palin 11%, Ron Paul 8%, Herman Cain 7%, Newt Gingrich 6%, Tim Pawlenty 3%, Jon Huntsman 2%, someone else/undecided 11% |
Mitt Romney 22% |
Rick Perry 21% |
Michele Bachmann
15% |
Newt Gingrich 9%, Ron Paul 7%, Tim Pawlenty 6%, Herman Cain 5%, Jon Huntsman 2%, someone else/undecided 13% | ||
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±4.9% Sample size: 400 |
Feb. 4–6, 2011 | Mitt Romney 19% |
Mike Huckabee 16% |
Sarah Palin 16% |
Newt Gingrich 12%, Ron Paul 9%, Tim Pawlenty 7%, John Thune 4%, Mitch Daniels 3%, someone else/undecided 16% |
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±5.3% Sample size: 341 |
Oct. 30–31, 2010 | Mitt Romney 22% |
Newt Gingrich 17% |
Sarah Palin 17% |
Mike Huckabee 14%, Tim Pawlenty 6%, Mike Pence 3%, John Thune 2%, Mitch Daniels 1%, someone else/undecided 18% |
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±4.6% Sample size: 448 |
May 14–16, 2010 | Sarah Palin 29% |
Mitt Romney 25% |
Mike Huckabee
18% |
Newt Gingrich 16%, Ron Paul 9%, undecided 3% |
Public Policy Polling
Margin of error: ±4.4% Sample size: 497 |
Mar. 5–8, 2010 | Mitt Romney 44% |
Sarah Palin
25% |
Mike Huckabee
17% |
Undecided 14% |
Results
editColorado Republican caucus, February 7, 2012[7] | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Projected delegate count | Convention Results [8][9] | ||||
MSNBC | GP | |||||||
Rick Santorum | 26,614 | 40.31% | 6 | 6 | 6 | |||
Mitt Romney | 23,012 | 34.85% | 13 | 14 | 13 | |||
Newt Gingrich | 8,445 | 12.79% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Ron Paul | 7,759 | 11.75% | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
Rick Perry | 52 | 0.08% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Jon Huntsman | 46 | 0.07% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Michele Bachmann | 28 | 0.04% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Others | 71 | 0.11% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Unprojected delegates: | 14 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Unpledged delegates: | 0 | 16 | 17 | |||||
Totals: | 66,027 | 100.00% | 36 | 36 | 36 |
Key: | Withdrew prior to contest |
Conventions
editThere is no formal system of allocating delegates to candidates in any step of the election process. At each meeting the participants decides what the best course of action is.
None of the 36 delegates are legally bound to vote for a candidate.[12]
- 12–13 April: Seven congressional conventions elects 3 National Convention delegates each and also elects delegates for the state convention.
- 14 April: State convention elects 12 National Convention delegates.
Convention Results[8][13] | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | State | Party leaders | Total |
Uncommitted | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 17 |
Mitt Romney | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 13 |
Rick Santorum | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Total | 21 | 12 | 3 | 36 |
Analysis
editThe Colorado caucuses were held on the same day as elections in Minnesota and Missouri. All three contests broke for Santorum. This was seen as undermining Romney's status as frontrunner.[14]
References
edit- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Colorado GOP moves up 2012 caucuses to Feb. 7". Denver Post. Associated Press. September 24, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
- ^ "Republican Delegate Allocation". The Green Papers. Retrieved 2011-12-03.
- ^ 2002 Amendment 29
- ^ Daum, Courtenay W.; Straayer, John A.; Duffy, Robert J. (2011). State of Change. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 9781457111549.
- ^ "2008 Colorado Republican Caucus". Colorado Republican Party. Archived from the original on 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
- ^ "2012 Colorado GOP Presidential Caucus Results". Colorado Republican Party. Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
- ^ a b "National Delegate Results". cologop.org. Colorado Republican Party. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
- ^ The Republic,CO GOP Assembly Archived 2012-04-18 at the Wayback Machine (April 22, 2012)
- ^ "Republican Caucuses " (May 7, 2012). MSNBC.
- ^ "Republican Caucus"
- ^ Trinko, Katrina (2012-02-16). "Ron Paul's delegate strategy targets the unbound - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
- ^ Bartels, Lynn (14 April 2012). "Colorado Republicans split delegate votes between Romney, unified Paul and Santorum supporters". denverpost.com. Denver Post. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
- ^ "Rick Santorum Sweeps: Stops Mitt Romney in Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado". ABC News. Retrieved 2024-07-07.