Here are the 2012 Presidential Election Results (Popular Vote) as of 12:09pm on Wednesday, November 7. Included in the data are the popular vote totals from the 2008 Presidential Election. The 2008 results are listed in parentheses.
2012 Presidential Election
Barack Obama (D) 59,725,608 (69,498,215)
Mitt Romney (R) 57,098,650 (59,948,240)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian) 1,139,562 (523,713)
Jill Stein (Green) 396,684 (161,680)
Virgil Goode (Constitution) 108,195 (199,437)
Roseanne Barr (Peace and Freedom) 48,797 (116,385)*
Rocky Anderson (Justice) 34,521 (N/A)**
Others 177,996 (323,984)
Vote totals for both the Democrats and Republicans were down from 2008. Libertarian and Green Party candidates saw an increase in their respective party’s vote totals from 2008. The Constitution Party also saw a decrease from 2008.
*Ralph Nader ran as the Peace and Freedom Party candidate in 2008 in California and Iowa. However, his status on many ballots was listed as “Independent”.
**The Justice Party did not run a candidate in 2008.
What are your thoughts on these totals?
Politics Matters 
With the decrease for the Democrats and Republicans and an increase in the libertarian and Green Party some could argue that the American people are discouraged the political party powers. It seems that there are those that are searching outside the box for a possible answer for political prosperity. If these parties could really find someone that appealed to the American public and had the financial backing these third parties could really cause havoc to the Democrats and Republicans.
These numbers are quite astounding, the democrats and republicans are very close, but everyone else is playing in a different league. It seems like a shame that the green party is so low, but at least they almost doubled the popular vote since last year.
Third parties are gaining ground.
Will we see it rise in 2014?
Could you imagine if the US only had party’s were democrat and republican, which direction would these “others” have taken? I think no difference they voted for the party that fits there view mostly. I don’t think they would have voted at all. It’s only a thought.
These results are showing how the Democrat and Republican parties are going down and the third parties are rising. Who knows how the 2014 election will result in and how much th ethird parties will rise.
2016*
As others have mentioned, Third-Party candidates got more popular votes than in 2008. I think this is partially due to the fact voters didn’t want Obama nor Romney. Although I do not know how the election results will turn out in 2016, I don’t see a Third-Party candidate becoming the resident anytime soon.
I believe these totals go to show that third-party candidates are getting more popular. The American people are looking for something different. Although the third party candidates are getting votes, I don’t think they will actually come truly into play in the elections for MANY years simply because they are not getting the financial support needed.