At a private fundraiser in Boca Raton, Fla. in May, Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney was secretly recorded telling his audience that supporters of President Barack Obama are people who do not pay taxes or assume responsibility for their lives.

Instead, according to Romney, they believe that the government should take care of them. He estimated that this is about 47 percent of the country, and it was not his job to worry about them.

Romney’s comments are wrong. He is running for President of the entire United States, not 53 percent of it.

The 47 percent Romney is talking about is made up of key voting groups such as the elderly, the poor, veterans, and college students. The elderly and college student vote are two large demographics that can greatly affect the election.

For example, the youth vote propelled then-senator Obama into the presidency. By alienating these groups, winning the White House for Romney has become much harder.

Romney is correct when he says this group pays no income tax. Some do not pay an income tax because they are retired–the elderly–or do not have a steady job yet–college students.

The other groups do have payroll taxes deducted from their paychecks, which fund Social Security and Medicare.

Some people in the 47 percent receive welfare from the government; these welfare recipients, according to Romney, are guaranteed Obama supporters. Romney forgets to tell his audience that his own father, George Romney, was on welfare for the first years of his life, and would go on later in his life to amass a fortune. So through Mitt Romney’s logic, his own father would not vote for him because George Romney was apart of the freeloading 47 percent.

When the video was leaked, Romney hastily had a news conference to explain the video. He said that his comment on the 47 percent was “not elegantly stated,” but he stood by his comments, according to USA Today.

Instead of standing by his comments and pandering to the base of the Republican Party, Romney should have apologized for making the comments. An apology about the remarks could have convinced some of the 47 percent to support Romney, possibly giving him enough votes to win the presidency.

Romney’s rejection of such a large demographic in America is quite shocking. These are people he is talking about, not toys that can be tossed around and forgotten.

These comments reveal Romney’s true intentions for running for President—to serve the rich and no one else.

With these comments and current foreign issues becoming the main focus of the election, Romney’s campaign is in a free fall. Every poll since these comments were leaked has shown Romney falling behind in every key battleground state. The only way for Romney to save his campaign is to surprise the nation at the debates.

This election will be decided by one key group— the 47 percent—without them, no candidate can win the White House.