(CNN) — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is made a personal appeal to African-American voters on Wednesday. He spoke at the NAACP national convention in Houston, explaining why he thinks he is the better candidate than President Barack Obama.
But when he mentioned his plans for Obama’s signature health care reform law the crowd was not impressed.
“I’m going to eliminate every non-essential expensive non-essential program I can find,” Romney said. “And that includes Obamacare, and I’m going to work to reform and save.”
With that, the crowd booed — for 15 seconds — the most-sustained negative response Romney has seen in this campaign.
The NAACP’s national board chair said the crowd objected to Romney’s choice of the term ‘Obamacare,’ a buzz word coined by the law’s conservative critics.
“That was a loaded statement and the crowd erupted in displeasure,” she said Roslyn Brock, NAACP national board chair.
Mitt Romney knows he has a problem with black voters. Polls show they overwhelmingly prefer President Obama.
A recent Gallup tracking poll showed just five percent of African-Americans supported Romney, compared with 87 percent for the President. Still, Romney’s campaign says he’s committed to competing in the African-American community.
