The media aftershock from Mitt Romney’s offhand remark that he does not care about the “very poor” is still humming through the blogosphere, drawing criticism from liberal and conservative commentators alike. This is sure to provide fodder for Democrats’ criticisms of Romney, especially given new PRRI data which shows that 63% of Democratic voters say the growing gap between the rich and the poor is a critical issue. A newly released report from the Pew Research Center shows, however, that Romney’s comments could hurt him among lower-income Republicans too.

According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in October, “57% of lower-income Republican and Republican-leaning voters said the government does too little for poor people. Just 18% said it does too much.” Higher-income Republicans said just the opposite. The report also found that Republican and GOP-leaning voters with household incomes of less than $30,000 a year were “much more likely than those with incomes of $75,000 or more to say the economic system unfairly favors the wealthy, that Wall Street does more harm than good, and that a few rich people and corporations have too much power.”

Check the report out here.