Romney’s Statements on the ‘Very Poor’ Provide a Great Opportunity

[Note: This blog post does not reflect the opinions of my employer.]

By now you’ve probably heard that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said in an interview with CNN that he was “not concerned about the very poor.” In fact, his full statement was:

“I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America – the 90, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling, and I’ll continue to take that message across the nation.”

 While opposition pundits, TV personalities, and candidates have pounced on this opportunity to attack Romney as an elitist who doesn’t care about the poor, it’s more important to provide constructive and factual evaluations of the former governor’s statements.

For one, Romney’s assumption that “90, 95 percent of Americans” are neither very rich nor very poor is inaccurate. In fact, according to the U.S. Census, the nation’s official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent – or 46.2 million people -- up from 14.3 percent in 2009. The epidemic of poverty in America is far reaching and affects a larger percentage of Americans than the small margin Romney indicated in his statement to CNN. With increased unemployment and a still-difficult economy, more and more American families are becoming the “very poor.”

Also, while the social safety net is “there,” as Romney points out, it is by no means ample. For example, families utilizing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) remain on very tight budgets. In fact, the average amount an individual on SNAP receives is $31.50 per week to buy groceries. These programs are incredibly effective, but that doesn’t mean they provide participants with unlimited and ample resources, and for many families all it takes is one minor financial hit (think: busted carburetor, basement flooding) to set them back dramatically.

Perhaps most compelling is the poverty experienced by too many children in our country – a population that deserves our collective concern and attention. Amy Davidson of The New Yorker pointed out that according to the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan, children make up 24 percent of the total population, but 36 percent of the poor population. “The safety net might be enough to keep America’s poor children going, but that’s not enough,” Davidson writes. “What they need is a ladder.

Mitt Romney has provided a great opportunity for advocates like you and me to turn the nation’s attention to the real facts about poverty and hunger in the United States. In political races, mentioning poverty is strictly verboten, but my hope is that we will not let the facts fall by the wayside. So let’s pay attention to what the candidates say and continue to ask them tough questions about poverty. Go to your town hall meetings, send emails and tweets, and make phone calls that push our candidates to talk about poverty, and based on what they say, ask them to commit to creating a circle of protection around poor people. Because no matter your political ideologies, everyone should be on the side of protecting the most vulnerable members of our country.

Jeannie Choi is editor and writer in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter @jeanniechoi.