2012 United States presidential election in the context of "Obama Administration"

In United States politics, a swing state (also known as battleground state, toss-up state, or purple state) is any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to presidential elections, by a swing in votes. These states are usually targeted by both major-party campaigns, especially in competitive elections. Meanwhile, the states that regularly lean to a single party are known as "safe states" (or more specifically as "red states" and "blue states" depending on the partisan leaning), as it is generally assumed that one candidate has a base of support from which a sufficient share of the electorate can be drawn without significant investment or effort by the campaign. In the 2024 United States presidential election, seven states were widely considered to be the crucial swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Due to the winner-take-all method that most states use to determine their presidential electors, candidates often campaign only in competitive states, which is why a select group of states frequently receives a majority of the advertisements and candidate visits. The battlegrounds may change in certain election cycles and may be reflected in overall polling, demographics, and the ideological appeal of the nominees.

In the context of the United States, secession primarily refers to the voluntary withdrawal of one or more states from the Union that constitutes the United States; but may loosely refer to leaving a state or territory to form a separate territory or new state, or to the severing of an area from a city or county within a state. Advocates for secession are called disunionists by their contemporaries in various historical documents.

Threats and aspirations to secede from the United States, or arguments justifying secession, have been a feature of the country's politics almost since its birth. Some have argued for secession as a constitutional right and others as from a natural right of revolution. In Texas v. White (1869), the Supreme Court ruled unilateral secession unconstitutional, while commenting that revolution or consent of the states could lead to a successful secession.

The Libertarian Party (LP) is a political party in the United States. It promotes civil liberties, non-interventionism, laissez-faire capitalism, and limiting the size and scope of government. The world's first explicitly libertarian party, it was conceived in August 1971 at meetings in the home of David Nolan in Westminster, Colorado, and was officially formed on December 11, 1971, in Colorado Springs. The organizers of the party drew inspiration from the works and ideas of the prominent Austrian school economist Murray Rothbard. The founding of the party was prompted in part due to concerns about the Nixon administration's wage and price controls, the Vietnam War, conscription, and the introduction of fiat money.

The party generally supports "personal liberty" and fiscal conservatism, as compared to the Democratic Party's modern liberalism and progressivism and the Republican Party's social conservatism and right-wing populism. Gary Johnson, the party's presidential nominee in 2012 and 2016, claims that the Libertarian Party is more socially liberal than Democrats, and more fiscally conservative than Republicans. Its fiscal policy positions include lowering taxes and abolishing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), decreasing the national debt, allowing people to opt out of Social Security, and eliminating the welfare state, in part by utilizing private charities. Its social policy positions include ending the prohibition of illegal drugs, advocating criminal justice reform, supporting same-sex marriage, ending capital punishment, and supporting the right to keep and bear arms.

Starting with the 2000 United States presidential election, the terms red state and blue state have referred to US states whose voters vote predominantly for one party—the Republican Party in red states and the Democratic Party in blue states—in presidential and other statewide elections. By contrast, states where the predominant vote fluctuates between Democratic and Republican candidates are known as swing states or purple states. Examining patterns within states reveals that the reversal of the two parties' geographic bases has happened at the state level, but it is more complicated locally, with urban–rural divides associated with many of the largest changes.

All states contain both liberal and conservative voters (i.e., they are "purple") and only appear blue or red on the electoral map because of the winner-take-all system used by most states in the Electoral College. However, the perception of some states as "blue" and some as "red", based on plurality or majority support for either main party, was reinforced by a degree of partisan stability from election to election—from the 2016 presidential election to the 2020 presidential election, only five states changed "color"; and as of 2024, 35 out of 50 states have voted for the same party in every presidential election since the red-blue terminology was popularized in 2000, with only 15 having swung between the 2000 presidential election and the 2024 election. Although many red states and blue states stay in the same category for long periods, they may also switch from blue to red or from red to blue over time.

The Constitution Party, named the U.S. Taxpayers' Party until 1999, is an ultra-conservative political party in the United States that promotes a religiously conservative interpretation of the principles and intents of the United States Constitution. The party platform is based on originalist interpretations of the Constitution and shaped by principles which it believes were set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the Bible.

The party was founded by Howard Phillips, a conservative activist, after President George H. W. Bush violated his pledge of "read my lips: no new taxes". During the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections, the party sought to give its presidential nomination to prominent politicians including Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot, but was unsuccessful and instead selected Phillips as its presidential nominee in three successive elections. Michael Peroutka was given the presidential nomination in 2004, followed by Chuck Baldwin in 2008 (although he faced opposition from multiple state affiliates), Virgil Goode in 2012, Darrell Castle in 2016, Don Blankenship in 2020 and Randall Terry in 2024.

The 1972 United States Senate election in Delaware was held November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican Senator J. Caleb Boggs ran for a third term in the United States Senate. Boggs faced off against Democrat Joe Biden, a New Castle County Councilman. Though Boggs was expected to easily win a third term, Biden narrowly defeated the incumbent on election day, even while fellow Democrat George McGovern lost Delaware by 20.4% in the concurrent presidential election. Biden's victory margin of 3,162 votes made this the closest U.S. Senate election of the year.

Biden won a total of seven terms in the Senate, before being elected vice president in 2008 and in 2012 and president in 2020. At the age of 29, Biden became the youngest person to be elected senator since Rush Holt won in West Virginia in 1934. Delaware was one of fifteen states that were won by Richard Nixon that elected Democrats to the United States Senate.

Joe Biden served as the 47th vice president of the United States during the presidency of Barack Obama from January 20, 2009, to January 20, 2017. Biden, a member of the Democratic Party who previously served as a senior U.S. senator representing Delaware from 1973 to 2009, was selected as Obama's running mate and took office following their victory in the 2008 presidential election over Republican nominees John McCain and Sarah Palin. Four years later, in the 2012 presidential election, they defeated Republican nominees Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, to win re-election. Biden was the first vice president from Delaware and the first Roman Catholic vice president in U.S. history.

Alongside Biden's vice presidency, the Democratic Party also held their majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate during the 111th U.S. Congress following the 2008 elections, attained an overall federal government trifecta. Biden was more influential than most vice presidents due to his long Senate career and relationships with both members of Congress and politicians abroad. His relationship with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell was particularly important after the Republicans regained control of Congress in the 2010 and 2014 elections, and the two were instrumental in ending the 2011 and 2013 debt-ceiling crises.