Republican Analyst: Romney's Comment Is What Some Want To Hear

Much is being made today of Mitt Romney’s secretly videotaped comment at a closed-door fundraiser that almost half of Americans don't pay income tax and are too dependent on government assistance.

There has been widespread negative reaction, but Republican analyst Whit Ayres says that people in his focus groups express similar thoughts about Americans who rely on government handouts.

“The sentiments that Governor Romney expressed in that meeting we hear all the time in focus groups of swing voters and independents,” he told Here & Now‘s Robin Young. “There’s a lot of folks who feel that there are too many Americans who are too dependent on government, so the sentiments he expressed are not out of line with what a great many American voters believe.”

Ayres does acknowlege, however, that Romney's comments make it more difficult for him to be seen as presidential.