Mitt Romney Has No Idea That 50% of Americans Are Poor Or Low Income

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Beyond his latest statement that he doesn’t care about poor people, hides the fact that Mitt Romney has no idea, exactly how many poor and low income people there are in the US.

Here is the video of Mitt Romney explaining why he doesn’t care about the poor from CNN:

Transcript via CNN:

Romney: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair , I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich…. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

O’Brien: “There are lots of very poor Americans who are struggling who would say, ‘That sounds odd.'”

Romney: “We will hear from the Democrat party, the plight of the poor…. You can focus on the very poor, that’s not my focus…. The middle income Americans, they’re the folks that are really struggling right now and they need someone that can help get this economy going for them.”

Romney tried to claim that poor people aren’t struggling because they have the social safety net, which Romney favors dismantling, and rich people aren’t struggling because they are wealthy, so he is worried about everyone else. The problem is that Romney seems to think that only 5%-10% of Americans are poor. He is so out of touch that he has no idea how many poor and low income people there really are in the United States.

There is some debate over whether the Census data released in December found that the number of Americans who are poor or low income is 50% or 33% depending on the measure that was used. The best case scenario for Mitt Romney is that he underestimated the number of poor and low income Americans by about 30%. The worst case scenario is that Romney had no clue that one in two Americans are struggling right now.

What the Republican frontrunner said today wasn’t just an isolated gaffe. Mitt Romney’s mouth has fueled a self-portrait of a candidate who is out of touch and uncaring about the struggles of average Americans. Romney has so far on the campaign trail claimed to be unemployed too, said that he has feared getting a pink slip in the past, bet another candidate $10,000, characterized over $374,000 in speaking fees as not very much money, and stated that he likes to fire people. Now, we can add to the list that he is not concerned about poor people.

Democrats don’t have to work to paint a negative picture of Mitt Romney. He is doing it for them. Mitt Romney has spent his entire life isolated inside a wealth bubble. Romney has never wanted for, or had to work for anything. His background made him the perfect corporate raider because he had no ability to empathize with the people who he was laying off.

That lack of empathy and understanding of how most Americans are living is alive and well today in presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Yes, Romney’s not caring about the poor statement was cold, uncaring, and damning, but the fact that he doesn’t even know how most of the people in the country he wants to lead live makes him completely unsuited for the presidency.

The absurdity of a man who doesn’t know how many poor and low income Americans there are wanting voters to believe that he is the candidate who can restore economic prosperity is only topped by the fact that the Republican Party is seriously considering nominating this candidate to be their nominee.

Corporations may be people to Mitt Romney, but it seems that poor and low income Americans aren’t.