Mitt Romney’s newest television ad has been effective in appealing to undecided female voters who supported President Obama in 2008, focus groups are indicating.

In his “Too Many Americans” ad, which has began airing last week, Romney speaks directly to the camera and says, “President Obama and I both care about poor and middle-class families. The difference is my policies will make things better for them.”

The Republican-aligned group Resurgent Republic conducted focus groups and released its findings Monday. The results indicated that female swing voters are more likely to view Romney favorably after seeing the video.

“He seemed more real, more laid back, more compassionate,” one woman in the focus group said, according to the report.

“He cares about the poor and middle class families,” said another.

Other responses included: “[He’s] more relatable,” “He has a plan,” “I actually believed what he said and want to know how he’s going to do it” and “[He] seemed caring.”

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Linda DiVall, the pollster behind the focus group, said the ad could help Romney narrow the gap he has with the president in attracting female support.

“Gov. Romney’s challenge in Wednesday’s debate is to convince these voters he is an acceptable alternative, and there’s evidence that suburban women could be more likely to do so given the 60-second TV ad where the Republican candidate speaks directly to camera,” DiVall wrote in a memo.

Romney’s campaign released the ad after the dustup over his “47 percent” comments. (RELATED EDITORIAL: Romney must own ’47 percent’ argument 100 percent of the time)

“Too many Americans are struggling to find work in today’s economy,” he says in the video. “Too many of those who are working are living paycheck to paycheck, trying to make falling incomes meet rising prices for food and gas.”

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