The United States presidential election of 2012 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Jon Huntsman, Jr., the Republican nominee, defeated incumbent Bill Richardson, the Democratic nominee, and Tom Tancredo, the Constitution nominee. After President Gravel stepped down, Richardson's poll numbers also began falling. Although Tancredo was able to make the Constitution Party a legitimate insurgent third party, Huntsman carried the lead, and never relinquished it.