The Iowa Straw Poll was a presidential straw poll and fundraising event for the Republican Party of Iowa. It was held six times, traditionally in late summer approximately six months in advance of contested presidential Iowa caucuses, from 1979 until 2011, on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames.
The following is a timeline of major events leading up to the United States presidential election of 2012. The election was the 57th quadrennial United States presidential election held on November 6, 2012.
Voters of the Republican Party elected state delegations to the 2012 Republican National Convention in presidential primaries. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. There were 2,286 delegates chosen, and a candidate needed to accumulate 1,144 delegate votes at the convention to win the nomination. The caucuses allocated delegates to the respective state delegations to the national convention, but the actual election of the delegates were, many times, at a later date. Delegates were elected in different ways that vary from state to state. They could be elected at local conventions, selected from slates submitted by the candidates, selected at committee meetings, or elected directly at the caucuses and primaries.
This article contains lists of notable candidates for the United States Republican Party's 2012 presidential nomination.
Opinion polls by U.S. state for the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries are as follows.
The Values Voter Summit is an annual political conference held in Washington, D.C. for American social conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States.
A series of political debates were held prior to and during the 2012 Republican primaries, among candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in the national election of 2012. The first debate occurred on May 5, 2011, in Greenville, South Carolina, and was hosted by Fox News, while the last debate was held February 22, 2012, in Mesa, Arizona, and was hosted by CNN.
The New Hampshire Straw Poll is a straw poll for the United States Republican presidential primary elections that was started in 2011 through promotion by ABC News and WMUR-TV. The first poll was held on Saturday, January 22, 2011, in Derry, New Hampshire, a year in advance of the New Hampshire primary, which as is traditional will be the first primary in the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination process. Voters in the poll were among some 400 members of the state Republican Party attending a meeting at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry. As with all straw polls, the results are in no way binding.
From 2011 to 2012, Ron Paul, a U.S. representative from Texas, unsuccessfully ran for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for the president of the United States.
The Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) is a political event held in the Southern United States before each presidential election. The event is attended by Republican Party activists, elected officials, and candidates for office. It has featured every major Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan, and is best known for its presidential straw poll, which receives national media attention. In 2011, the event was dubbed the Republican Leadership Conference before restoring its original name for 2012.
The 2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses took place on January 3, 2012.
Nationwide public opinion polls conducted with respect to the Republican primaries for the 2012 United States presidential election are as follows. The people named in the polls were either declared candidates, former candidates or received media speculation about their possible candidacy.
This article is a list of endorsements made by members of the 112th United States Congress and other elected officials during the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries. Endorsements of statesmen and celebrities are also important to candidates. Late in the Republican race cycle, Romney toured Israel and Poland after a visit to the London 2012 Olympics. He received the endorsement of former president of Poland Lech Wałęsa, and soon after, the endorsement of actor Clint Eastwood. The winning of endorsements, also known as the Endorsement Race or Endorsement Derby, is argued to be a vital feature of the United States presidential race and the political party system.
The 2012 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Idaho voters chose four 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. Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Romney and Ryan carried Idaho with 64.09% of the popular vote to Obama's and Biden's 32.40%, thus winning the state's four electoral votes. Romney's victory in Idaho made it his fourth strongest state in the 2012 election after Utah, Wyoming and Oklahoma. He improved on McCain's performance in 2008, expanding his margin from 25.3% to 31.69% and flipping Teton County which had previously voted for Obama.
The start of the 2012 Republican race for president was shaped by the 13 presidential debates of 2011 beginning on May 5. Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer, both former Governors, were left out of most of the debates, leading to complaints of bias. On December 28, 2011, Johnson withdrew to seek the Libertarian Party nomination and on February 23, 2012, Roemer withdrew to seek the Reform Party and the Americans Elect nomination.
This article contains opinion polling by U.S. state for the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
This article contains opinion polling by U.S. state for the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
This article contains opinion polling by U.S. state for the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
This article contains opinion polling by U.S. state for the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
This article contains opinion polling by U.S. state for the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries.
2012 U.S. presidential election 
