WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Mitt Romney stepped up his efforts to repair the damage from his “47 percent” comments, releasing a new television ad on Wednesday in which he speaks directly to the camera about his compassion and tries to reassure voters that he cares about the poor and middle class.

The 60-second ad, “Too Many Americans,” was Mr. Romney’s most aggressive effort to clean up the fallout from his secretly videotaped remarks at a May fund-raiser, where he called voters who do not pay income tax “victims” who are dependent on the government and feel “entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

But the ad came nine days after the video surfaced, a period in which Democrats have bashed Mr. Romney over the remarks, leaving him on the defensive in swing states like Ohio. The ad reflected a belief among his aides that in addition to trying to move past his “47 percent” comments, Mr. Romney can appeal to voters in an intimate, personal way, bonding over their economic worries. The spot, in which Mr. Romney seems to address the viewer, is an attempt, aides said, to reveal the compassion behind the policy. “The goal is to connect with voters over their anxieties over the state of the economy, and reflect the fact that Governor Romney has a plan to fix it,” said Kevin Madden, a senior campaign adviser.

On Wednesday, the Romney campaign reserved $3.4 million worth of advertising time in eight swing states. Nearly half of that — more than $1.5 million — was for Virginia. The rest was spread across Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Wisconsin. His total ad spending for the week is more than $10 million.