Did Mitt Romney just disrespect poor Americans?
Mitt Romney told CNN 'I'm not concerned about the very poor...' Will that come off sounding tone deaf? Or was it simply a quote taken out of context?
Mitt Romney told CNN 'I'm not concerned about the very poor...' Will that come off sounding tone deaf? Or was it simply a quote taken out of context?
Mitt Romney crushed the Florida primary - and then stepped in a general election cowpie.
Romney, in a CNN interview, said these words: 鈥淚鈥檓 not concerned about the very poor.鈥� Let鈥檚 look at the full quote, which you can see transcribed below.
When you listen on, however, it鈥檚 clear is that Romney wasn鈥檛 being totally dismissive of poor people. In fact, this rings out more like his 鈥淚 like to fire people鈥� remark - absolutely tone deaf even if the point he鈥檚 making is far less controversial. Here鈥檚 how the interview continues.
Soledad O鈥橞rian follows up on Romney鈥檚 remark on the poor.
Interestingly, the American people鈥檚 position on which economic classes really need help isn鈥檛 all that clear.
A Pew study released two weeks ago showed two-thirds of Americans believing a 鈥渟trong鈥� or 鈥渧ery strong鈥� conflict between the richest and poorest Americans. The number of Americans who strongly believe that class conflict is occuring bounced nearly 20 percentage points since 2009.
But as Pew Research Director Andy Kohut writes in a New York Times Op-Ed entitled 鈥淒on鈥檛 Mind the Gap鈥�:
While the sentiment for populist revolt has lessened slightly since the 1980s - more than half of Americans now believe economic inequality is a part of the nation鈥檚 economic system - Kohut points out Americans are 鈥渦pset over a perceived lack of fairness in public policy. For example, 61 percent of Americans now say the economic system in this country unfairly favors the wealthy.鈥�
What鈥檚 the upshot of all this?聽As Kohut points out, Americans want more policies that promote opportunity, not necessarily equal outcomes. While they feel the deck is more stacked against the poor, they don鈥檛 really want populist solutions per se.
So where does that leave Romney? About halfway with the American people (focus on the middle class) and halfway without them (that he鈥檚 not all that concerned with poor people) - and with an awkward soundbite that鈥檚 sure to show up in Democratic ads sooner rather than later.
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