CEDAR RAPIDS — GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney inspired enthusiastic cheers from a few thousand supporters at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday night when he accused President Obama of failing to meet the needs of Americans.

Romney maintained his five-point plan will help solve economic struggles.

“I know that it’s been tough these last four year for a lot of families,” Romney said. “But things are about to get better.”

He highlighted the major parts of his plan, which include increased trade and eliminating regulations on businesses. Romney said these regulations can have harmful effects on small companies.

“I understand small business, and not because I’ve studied small business, but because I’ve lived small business,” he said.

Iowa GOP Chairman A.J. Spiker echoed Romney’s sentiments, saying when regulations are excessively imposed on businesses it doesn’t matter to the large corporations.

“A lot of small-town banks just say forget it, [because they] can’t compete,” Spiker said, citing the Dodd-Frank Act, which was signed into law on July 21, 2010, putting many regulations on the banking industry.

With his five-point plan, Romney hopes to counteract this type of government interference in the marketplace.

Several other Republicans spoke in support of Romney at the rally, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Gov. Terry Branstad. 

“We can and we must put America on a new path and that’s going to take a new president to do that,” Grassley said at the event. “Our next president could not be more qualified.”

Those stumping for Romney said Obama has not followed through on promises made in 2008 and that Romney’s plan for America will take the country in the right direction.

However, a lot of people on the opposition claim Romney’s plan won’t work. Some in disagreement with Romney gathered outside his rally to protest against his visit to Cedar Rapids.

Michael Hunt, communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party, said the point of the protest was to demonstrate Romney’s ambiguous positions on many issues concerning the country. These issues include equal rights for women, the parts of the Affordable Care Act he does and does not like, and foreign policy.

“In the closing weeks of the campaign, Mitt Romney is doing everything he can to hide his positions,” Hunt said. “He is terrific at making presentations about things he thinks are wrong with America, but he cannot give you a candid or honest answer about what he will do to make it right, and that is not leadership you can trust.”

Tim Hagle, a University of Iowa associate professor of political science, said he wasn’t surprised Romney ran over the highlights of his economic plan in his speech and didn’t go into many specifics.

“It’s that kind of a thing where you fire up your base and get them to work hard for the next week and a half,” he said. “At this point in the campaign, they tend to talk less about the details.” 

Hagle said by now many voters already know where each candidate stands on the issues, so going over the highlights is all that is necessary.

“His big selling point is jobs and the economy,” he said.

Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, agreed with Hunt and said in his readings of Romney’s five-point plan, his math doesn’t add up.

“I have to tell you, every time I hear him speak, I have to roll up my pant legs because it gets so deep,” he said. “Not to be disrespectful, but he just reminds me of a spoiled rich kid who wants to be king. His five-point plan doesn’t work, and I’m really disappointed that he hasn’t gotten down to specifics on how to improve the lives of the middle class.”

Romney will be in Iowa again on Friday, making a campaign stop in Ames.