They are coming after him from within.

The Christianity of many such Republicans is really just about maintaining their cultural hegemony.

I personally don't know you can talk honestly and realistically about "the middle class" without talking about the poor -- and without talking about the outsourcing and downsizing-hungry investor class that's increasingly comandeered the wills of both parties for the last few decades.

If I have a choice between someone says they will fix a problem and someone who moans over a problem...

Perhaps the new metric for them is, "how much crazy can we hide behind a veneer of sanity?"  

And, the Mormon angle is illuminating.  The LDS Church has had leaders state that being poor is a sin, and that with hard work, no one should be poor.  The Mormon work ethic is very "Protestant."

Also, the LDS Church strongly discourages any member from accepting government benefits.  The LDS Church runs its own Church Welfare program that is controlled by local Bishops.

The LDS Church has longed been very opposed to the Federal Government--going back the Reynolds decision upholding the prohibition of plural marriage in spite of the First Amendment protections of religious liberty; the Federal government's sending troops to Utah to stop the practice of polygamy; and most humiliating, the 1904-1907 Reed Smoot Senate hearings during which new Utah Senator Reed Smoot was repeatedly grilled on the Mormon faith and whether polygamy still existed.  A majority voted to expel Smoot because he was not "American" enough.  But he kept his seat because a 2/3 vote was required.

The LDS Church thus has a similar background of humiliation and resentment as the Deep South.  That is why imo they vote the same.

The LDS Church spent the latter part of the 20th century focused on improving its reputation.  It has tried to create the public image that is just another Protestant denomination like the Lutheran Church.  It rarely mentions polygamy or Brigham Young's or Joseph Smith's wives, or the prohibition against Blacks holding the (lay) Priesthood until 1978, in effect consigning Blacks to less than full membership, as every male over 12 is expected to hold some rank of Priesthood.

So, the LDS Church has been trying to be more "American" than apple pie--just like the over compensation in the South.

Look at the Red States.  Largely, the Deep South and the Mormon West (Utah, Idaho and Arizona.)  Being a Republican is mainly a cultural choice imo.  And the lowly regard for the poor is part of that cultural choice.

People say Romney has no core because he always changes his views.  Romney has responded that he has been loyal to his Church and his family.  True.  And, yes, Romney does have a core.  It is a Mormon core.  He donates millions to the LDS Church, is the grandson of polygamists who fled to Mexico so they could continue to practice polygmay, and (unlike other Mormon elected officials like Harry Reid) has held significant leadership positions in the Church.

When the diehards don't like ya and the independents don't like ya, ya got a problem.  I just don't see attacks from the far right helping Romney's image with independents all that much.