Mitt Romney at the Detroit Economic Club at Ford Arena. (Photo by Austen Hufford, Creative Commons).

Obama is attempting to regain the support of white, middle-class voters after months of focusing on liberal voters and wealthier voters through campaign fundraising, Fox News reported.

The poll showed that white voters saw Romney as doing more for the middle class, the former governor leading 53 percent to 38 percent. Among all voters, Obama led 50 percent to 44 percent.

Both whites and nonwhites saw Romney as doing more to advance wealthy Americans economically.

Obama has suggested that the White House is no place for Romney’s experience as Bain Capital CEO. According to Fox News, the attacks are hurting the president in gaining Democratic support in moderate, swing-state suburbanites.

According to The Washington Post, gaining white voters, particularly those without college degrees and more likely to be unemployed, is a continuing challenge for the president.

From The Washington Post:

In 2008, Obama lost whites without college degrees by a big margin, 58 percent to 40 percent, according to the national exit poll. That performance among such voters was similar to John F. Kerry’s in 2004 and Al Gore’s in 2000.

“Democrats are very likely to lose those voters” again this year, said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster. “The question is by how much.”

White voters who have been laid off or know someone who had been saw Romney as doing more to advance their economic interests, with 56 percent over Obama’s 32 percent. 

The Washington Post reported that the telephone poll was conducted May 17 to May 20 among a random national sample of 1,004 adults.

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Reach executive producer Agnus Dei Farrant here.