Mitt Romney’s analysis of the election results
“It’s a proven political strategy, which is, give a bunch of money from the government to a group and guess what? They vote for you.”
— Mitt Romney, speaking privately to donors, Nov. 14, 2012
We had thought we wouldn’t have to fact-check Mitt Romney again, or at least for a while. But his private remarks this week to a group of donors require some closer examination.
The quote above makes it sound as though the Obama campaign was handing out “walking around money” to get out the vote.
Instead, Romney was speaking of what he called “gifts” to specific demographic groups, such as “forgiveness of college loan interest” to voters under the age of 29, “free health care” to African Americans, “amnesty” to the children of illegal immigrants (to lure Latinos) and “free contraceptives” for young, college-age women.
Republicans have quickly distanced themselves from Romney’s remarks, which struck many as tin-eared or sour grapes. (Latinos, for instance, also might have been turned off by Romney’s harsh rhetoric on immigration during the primaries.) It is also worth recalling that Romney in the presidential debates said the opposite about many of these so-called “gifts,” frequently suggesting he had virtually the same policies.
We will leave the political analysis to others, but we wondered: How do Romney’s assertions stand up to the facts revealed in the national exit polls?
Well Romney's claims aren't born out in exit polling results.
In fact Obama voters actually declined in some of the voting blocks Romney was referring to as supposedly grateful "takers".
Obama's voters ages 18-29 declined by 6% since 2008.
Obama's African-Americans voters declined by 2% since 2008.
Obama's Non-married women voters declined by 3% since 2008.
As Romney noted, young voters “turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008,” but their actual voting pattern completely undercuts Romney’s assertion. He managed to win a larger share of those voters than John McCain did in 2008.
In some critical battleground states, Obama did boost his share of the vote, such as a 14 percentage-point gain among Hispanics in Colorado and a five percentage-point gain among voters ages 18-29 in Florida. But that seems more a function of a superior get-out-the-vote operation.
The Pinocchio Test
Romney’s analysis of the election results is not borne out by the actual election data. In effect, Obama reassembled a slightly less robust version of the coalition that first elected him four years ago — and Romney failed to get enough votes to overcome that.
We don’t mean to knock a man when he’s down. But Romney’s comments suggest that his understanding of the election results needs some serious rethinking.
Mitt has launched himself onto a trajectory towards irrelevance with his preposterous parting shot at the people who er-elected Barack Obama.
Jon Stewart couldn't let that go either.
Jon Stewart skewers Romney's "gifts" comment
By GABRIELLE LEVY, UPI.com
In his opening segment Thursday night, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart took Mitt Romney to task for blaming his failed bid for the White House on "gifts" President Barack Obama handed out to key groups.
"How on earth did Mitt Romney find out about the extraordinary bag of gifts that we got?" Stewart said, pulling out a giant bag plastered with the ubiquitous Obama "O." "Something for everybody in this!"
Mitt Romney will be remembered as a sour loser.