Obama secures win in RI

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- Barack Obama has secured Rhode Island's four electoral votes as residents showed their support the president's campaign for re-election.

Rhode Island voters chose Obama over Republican challenger and former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney, and continued the Ocean State's trend of backing Democratic candidates.

• Campaign 2012: Complete Coverage
• Real-Time Election Results

In a poll conducted by Eyewitness News in late October, Obama held a solid lead over Romney at 54 percent to 33 percent respectively, with 8 percent still undecided.

• Poll: RI Voters are Sticking with Obama
• Interactive: Breakdown of Poll Results

In 2008, Obama saw his strongest support from younger voters, getting 68 percent of the vote from residents aged 18 to 39. Our latest poll showed similar results, with 61 pledging allegiance to the incumbent president.

Women in Rhode Island also helped propel Obama towards his 2008 victory, with a whopping 70 percent voting in his favor. Our poll showed nearly 58 percent in support of Obama in 2012, with 28 percent backing Mitt Romney.

Rhode Island has a long history of being a blue state, having voted Republican only four times since 1928: Twice for Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, Nixon in 1972, and Reagan in 1984.

Eight of the last ten elections have been a Democratic vote from Rhode Island, with Nixon and Reagan only winning by single-digit margins in the popular vote. In both of those elections, the Republican candidates won by a landslide nationally, securing electoral votes from 49 of 50 states.

In 2008, Obama took 63 percent of Rhode Island's popular vote, defeating John McCain by 28 percentage points.