A secretly filmed video has emerged showing
Mitt Romney disparaging Barack Obama voters at a private donor dinner.
The Republican nominee is shown saying the 47% of Americans who back the president do not pay
income tax and would never vote for Mr Romney.
"I'll never convince them they should take
personal responsibility and care for their lives," Mr Romney says.
In a late-night appearance, Mr Romney said his
remarks were not "elegantly stated", but did not retract them.
"This is the same message I give to people in
public," he said in response to the video, released by liberal
investigative magazine Mother Jones.
Earlier, his campaign said Mr Romney "wants to
help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy".
"As the [former Massachusetts] governor has
made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are
dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who
are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million
Americans who are struggling to find work," spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said
in a statement.
"It's
hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've disdainfully written
off half the nation," Jim Messina, Mr Obama's campaign manager, said in a
statement.
The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says that this
may prove to be a significant setback for Mr Romney, who has been relentlessly
characterised by his political opponents as privileged and out of touch.
Also on Monday, Mr Romney's campaign unveiled a
significant reworking of its strategy less than two months before election day.
Campaign advisers told the US media on Monday that
Mr Romney would speak more on his specific policy proposals in the coming days
and weeks.
Until now his message to voters has largely consisted
of repeated attacks on President Obama's economic record
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