The fallout over Mitt Romney's infamous "47-percent" comments has become a key factor in the ongoing race for the White House.

Both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, of course, have been desperately wooing this large — and economically-challenged — middle-class voting bloc.

That's especially true in the swing states — think Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania — that are likely to decide this election, and where lots of middle-class Americans live.

But with new polls showing President Barack Obama widening his lead, there was more bad news today on the middle class front for GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

According to a poll by the Washington Post and ABC News, 54 percent of Americans who heard the Romney fundraising comments regarded them in "an unfavorable light."

But the pain for Romney's campaign cuts even deeper.

Here's how the Post's Jon Cohen digs into the numbers:

BOSTON — It's a common lament, the kind of rant that rolls off the tongue in an election year: American workers can’t compete globally. They no longer produce stuff that the world wants. And that's why our economy is sluggish.

The problem is, it just isn't true.

On the contrary, America may not be stitching many pants or making much steel, but it has never before hauled in so much money from abroad. The fruit of our labor is at an all time high. And exports are more critical to US prosperity than ever.

Here are the Commerce Department’s numbers: In 2011, America’s sale of goods and services to the rest of the world grew by 14.5 percent, setting a record of $2.1 trillion. Exports accounted for 13.8 percent of the US economy — higher than any year since an anomalous boom during World War I.

Exports are also critical to the economic recovery, contributing more than half of GDP growth in 2011, according to the Commerce Department.

So where are the robust opportunities for American workers?

It turns out that we’re just too efficient — and perhaps a bit underpaid.

Yes, exports have more than tripled in the past two decades, and they account for a greater part of the US economy than ever. But as a share of employment, they’ve stayed relatively constant, at about 6 to 7 percent, according to a 2008 International Trade Administration report.

How could this be?

BOSTON — High fives all around to the researchers at the Brookings Institution.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank this week tackled a very important question: just how do people in America make it into the middle class?

It's a key question, of course, for the world's largest economy — particularly as this group has been struggling for the past two decades.

It's also a central question for GlobalPost's America the Gutted reporting project, which for the past 10 months has been investigating the long-term difficulties of the US middle class and how this economic trend is playing out around the world.

For its research, Brookings went to the root of the issue: children.

In a report titled "Pathways to the Middle Class: Balancing Personal and Public Responsibilities," Brookings asked why some children do better than others in eventually achieving middle class status.

And while there's some good news in here — 61 percent of Americans reach the middle class by middle age, Brookings says — the path is not equal for all. Moreover, the United States isn't comparing favorably around the world in this department:

"The reality is that economic success in America is not purely meritocratic," Brookings writes. "We don’t have as much equality of opportunity as we’d like to believe, and we have less mobility than some other developed countries. Although cross-national comparisons are not always reliable, the available data suggest that the U.S. compares unfavorably to Canada, the Nordic countries, and some other advanced countries. A recent study shows the U.S. ranking 27th out of 31 developed countries in measures of equal opportunity."

Most importantly, getting into America's middle class is easier if you've been born to the right parents. And it helps — a lot — if those parents are already rich.

Here's the money quote from the report:

BOSTON — "The whole secret of existence is to have no fear."

So said the Buddha.

Then again, that happy chubster wasn't particularly concerned with a structural economic shift that contributed to a steady decline in his income, or the rise of a distant economic power that — over a period of several decades — cornered the market on his profession of spiritual philosophy.

Unfortunately, millions of middle-class Americans don't have that luxury.

So the results of a Pew Research Center survey this week should come as no surprise: Americans, by a large majority, fear China's economic prowess.

Examine these numbers:

According to Pew, 59 percent of Americans view China's economic rise as a threat, versus the 28 percent who are more troubled by China's military power.

Sixty-six percent view China as a competitor, versus the 16 percent who see Beijing as a partner.

A full 78 percent believe China's large holdings of US debt is a serious problem.

Seventy-one percent see US job losses to China in that same light, while 61 percent believe the US trade deficit with China is a serious problem.

Download the full Pew report here. It's jam-packed with all sorts of interesting data, and well-worth a read.

But how should we interpret these feelings and findings? And, on a more philosophical level, is the Buddha right?

Our 10-month investigation America the Gutted — which will hit GlobalPost on Oct. 15 — offers some clues.