Wrong. The 47% referred to those Americans who pay no taxes, but still get government services. Here is the full quote, with the question that prompted it:
Question: “For the past three years, all everybody’s been told is,“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you.” How are you going to do it, in two months before the elections to convince everybody, you’ve got to take care of yourself?”.
Romney reply: “Uh, well there are 47% of the people who will VOTE for the President no matter what. All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon the government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will VOTE for this President no matter what. And the, the President starts off with 48,49, 4–, he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. 47 percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our MESSAGE of low taxes doesn’t connect. He’ll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean, that’s what they sell every, every 4 years. And, uh, so my job is not to worry about those few. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is to CONVINCE the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independents, that are thoughtful, that look at VOTING one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not……”.
Now, if you want to argue that military personnel pay no income tax, well, you can take that up with Mrs. O, but I wouldn't get too close when you say it. Retirees pay income taxes on their pensions, including Social Security, and any income that they have from investments or dividends. The people that you mentioned who do fall into that 47% are the "disadvantaged" (which is basically a catchall for welfare recipients), students (although those who work while going to school do pay taxes), low-income families and a few other fringe demographics.
That's only if you assume that the rich are the majority of voters in all of those states, not exactly a safe bet. The demogrpahic data from the election shows that Obama won among the richest and poorest voters, with Romney doing best among the middle class. Looking at the electoral map by county shows that the most affluent areas went for Obama:
Note that the overwhelming majority of Democratic voters were concentrated in urban areas in the states that Obama carried. Those are among the most affluent regions in America.
Originally Posted by PeterS
