The Republican caucuses took place on

Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominatin ...

, March 6, 2012. An advisory primary with no binding effect on delegates, scheduled to be held on Tuesday May 15, 2012, was cancelled by the

Idaho Republican Party The Idaho Republican Party (IDGOP) is the Idaho state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), United States Republican Party, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Boise. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling both of I ...

. Five candidates were on the ballot. In order of filing they are

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977, and again from 1979 to 1985, as well as for Texas' ...

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum Sr. ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, author, and political commentator who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1995 to 2007. He was the Senate's Chairman of the United Sta ...

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...

, and

Buddy Roemer Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III (October 4, 1943 – May 17, 2021) was an American politician, investor, and banker who served as the 52nd governor of Louisiana from 1988 to 1992, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives fro ...

. Although Roemer had withdrawn from the Republican race before the Idaho caucus, he still appeared on the ballot. Mitt Romney won 61% of the vote, thanks to a large majority of support (80-90% in most counties) in majority Mormon southeastern Idaho, rendering it a winner-take-all contest. Santorum and Paul split the

Panhandle A salient, panhandle, or bootheel is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on three sides. Ins ...

, winning five counties each, but came away empty in the delegate count.

Procedure

Idaho has 32 delegates to the Republican national convention, of which 3 are RNC and 29 are AL. The 3 RNC delegates pledged to go with the results of the Boise Straw Poll. The delegates will be determined by the caucuses results, based on a two-step approach. First, the delegates are primarily awarded winner-take-all by county after a series of votes in which candidates are successively removed from the ballot. Then, if a candidate receives half or more of the county delegates, he will receive all the 32 delegates; if not, the delegates will be split proportionately according to the number of county delegates.

Polling

Straw polls

Despite a complete lack of formal polling in the state, there were a total of five

straw poll A straw poll, straw vote, or straw ballot is an ad hoc or unofficial voting, vote. It is used to show the popular opinion on a certain matter, and can be used to help politicians know the majority opinion and help them decide what to say in order ...

s conducted in Idaho, three of which were online. Ron Paul won three of these,http://www.kivitv.com/news/local/136861888.html while Mitt Romney won two.

January 2–4 online poll

This was the first ever Idaho straw poll. It was conducted entirely online by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won with over 70% of the vote.

January 6 Boise poll

This poll used paper ballots and was conducted in

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

. Ron Paul won this poll. Rick Perry's campaign, although still active in the race at this time, did not participate.

February 2–4 online poll

This online straw poll was also produced by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Mitt Romney won the poll by a small margin.

March 1–3 online poll

This poll was also produced by Kaz Wittig KStar Enterprises. Ron Paul won by a double-digit margin.

Results

County totals

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" , - ! County !!

!! Total !! Winner , - , Ada , , 307 , , 1766 , , 4233 , , 1866 , , 8172 , , Romney , - , Adams , , 0 , , 85 , , 132 , , 0 , , 217 , , Romney , - , Bannock , , 24 , , 254 , , 1614 , , 146 , , 2038 , , Romney , - , Bear Lake , , 2 , , 15 , , 308 , , 19 , , 344 , , Romney , - , Benewah , , 24 , , 90 , , 26 , , 145 , , 265 , , Santorum , - , Bingham , , 27 , , 215 , , 2172 , , 150 , , 2564 , , Romney , - , Blaine , , 47 , , 79 , , 230 , , 23 , , 379 , , Romney , - , Boise , , 0 , , 128 , , 163 , , 0 , , 291 , , Romney , - , Bonner , , 0 , , 555 , , 0 , , 487 , , 1042 , , Paul , - , Bonneville , , 65 , , 481 , , 3044 , , 235 , , 3825 , , Romney , - , Boundary , , 0 , , 193 , , 64 , , 101 , , 358 , , Paul , - , Butte , , 10 , , 25 , , 153 , , 23 , , 211 , , Romney , - , Camas , , 0 , , 40 , , 38 , , 0 , , 78 , , Paul , - , Canyon , , 0 , , 617 , , 2056 , , 1296 , , 3969 , , Romney , - , Caribou , , 7 , , 22 , , 336 , , 26 , , 391 , , Romney , - , Cassia , , 28 , , 143 , , 1279 , , 144 , , 1594 , , Romney , - , Clark , , 2 , , 8 , , 88 , , 17 , , 115 , , Romney , - , Clearwater , , 0 , , 85 , , 0 , , 151 , , 236 , , Santorum , - , Custer , , 19 , , 48 , , 98 , , 24 , , 189 , , Romney , - , Elmore , , 0 , , 158 , , 281 , , 0 , , 439 , , Romney , - , Franklin , , 4 , , 105 , , 856 , , 29 , , 994 , , Romney , - , Fremont , , 12 , , 76 , , 726 , , 38 , , 852 , , Romney , - , Gem , , 0 , , 150 , , 379 , , 143 , , 672 , , Romney , - , Gooding , , 47 , , 84 , , 299 , , 86 , , 516 , , Romney , - , Idaho , , 0 , , 284 , , 0 , , 191 , , 475 , , Paul , - , Jefferson , , 11 , , 212 , , 1642 , , 114 , , 1979 , , Romney , - , Jerome , , 28 , , 74 , , 331 , , 101 , , 534 , , Romney , - , Kootenai , , 0 , , 496 , , 0 , , 674 , , 1170 , , Santorum , - , Latah , , 78 , , 509 , , 197 , , 188 , , 972 , , Paul , - , Lemhi , , 44 , , 60 , , 217 , , 64 , , 385 , , Romney , - , Lewis , , 0 , , 0 , , 25 , , 44 , , 69 , , Santorum , - , Lincoln , , 14 , , 11 , , 147 , , 49 , , 221 , , Romney , - , Madison , , 7 , , 260 , , 2510 , , 50 , , 2827 , , Romney , - , Minidoka , , 22 , , 80 , , 653 , , 92 , , 847 , , Romney , - , Nez Perce , , 0 , , 127 , , 124 , , 0 , , 251 , , Paul , - , Oneida , , 3 , , 39 , , 241 , , 18 , , 301 , , Romney , - , Owyhee , , 0 , , 0 , , 177 , , 263 , , 440 , , Santorum , - , Payette , , 0 , , 0 , , 428 , , 302 , , 730 , , Romney , - , Power , , 9 , , 13 , , 287 , , 38 , , 347 , , Romney , - , Shoshone , , 0 , , 0 , , 63 , , 74 , , 137 , , Santorum , - , Teton , , 13 , , 44 , , 295 , , 26 , , 378 , , Romney , - , Twin Falls , , 83 , , 332 , , 1228 , , 409 , , 2052 , , Romney , - , Valley , , 0 , , 123 , , 152 , , 0 , , 275 , , Romney , - , Washington , , 0 , , 0 , , 222 , , 269 , , 491 , , Santorum

Notes

*That these totals reflect the ''final'' caucus ballots in each county; where only two candidates have votes totaled, this was likely from other candidates being eliminated in previous rounds of voting. Where all candidates have at least one vote, only one ballot was necessary, since the winning candidate had a majority of votes in that county. *Vote totals for Buddy Roemer, who had formally withdrawn from the Republican race before the caucus, are not provided.

References

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

2012 Idaho elections Idaho Republican caucuses