U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has always been viewed as aloof, but now President Barack Obama is being increasingly seen as out of touch with Americans.

That criticism, often heard from Republicans and conservative pundits, gained steam on Friday when Obama set off a whirlwind of criticism by declaring that "the private sector is doing fine" amid the most sluggish economic recovery since World War II.

Most Americans believe the economy is in trouble, and November's presidential elections hinge on whether the president can show improvement in the moribund jobs situation.

Earlier this month, the government's monthly jobless report showed unemployment bounced back up to 8.2 percent from the previous month's 8.1 percent, continuing a nearly three-year trend whereby the jobless rate has hovered above the 8 percent mark.

After making the statement, Obama's camp scrambled to clarify that the president understands the economy is fairing poorly. But the damage to Obama's image may have already been done, said some experts.

In an ironic twist, Romney was quick to seize the opportunity to lampoon the president for being "detached and out of touch with the American people," a distinction critics reserve for millionaire Romney.

The Republican challenger went on to bill Obama's remark as "an extraordinary miscalculation and misunderstanding" during a campaign event in Iowa.

Increasingly, Obama is fending off attacks on his handling of the economy at a time when the jobless rate is undergoing the longest stretch of above 8 percent since the late 1940s.

All eyes will stay on the economy's trajectory over the summer -- whether it seems to be getting better or worse -- and voters will judge Obama on the outcome. If Obama cannot turn around negative perceptions by early September, it will be too late for him, analysts said.

Obama's gaffe also comes while his campaign is seeking to portray Romney as aloof, outmoded and at odds with women and minorities.

Team Obama aims to portray Romney as a rigid conservative, making the claim that "if you are a women, if you are Hispanic, if you are a minority, Romney's world view doesn't have room for you," said Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

That strategy worked in 2004 during the re-election campaign of George W. Bush, when he was able to paint then Democratic challenger John Kerry as a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, Mahaffee said.

Obama leads by a hair in poll averages compiled by Real Clear Politics, with the president ahead by 1.4 percentage points, which is not enough to be significant.

Americans are highly concerned about the state of the economy, and as a result largely dissatisfied with the country's direction, according to polls.

For his part, Romney struggles to communicate with the public, and is often viewed as a robot-like persona who cannot relate to ordinary Americans.

While the election is all about the economy and not personality, it is believed that Romney's challenge will be to convince voters that he is the man for the job.