Oprah: Do you feel like you have been mischaracterized?

Mitt Romney: I just think people have an immediate perception, which is, this guy is well-off financially, so he must not care about people. But the truth is, I care very deeply about people; my life has shown that. As people see me in debates, as we talk about what needs to be done to make the country stronger, they'll get a better sense of that. I hope I'll be able to communicate that.

Oprah: As we sit here today, do you believe inside yourself you're going to win?

Mitt Romney: I do believe I'm going to win. But I don't define myself by whether I win or lose. I'm disappointed that so far the campaign from the other side has been all diversions from issues and policy and direction for the country. But ultimately, I think in the debates we'll be able to get down to what do you believe and how can you help the country? And I think when we do that, we'll end up winning.

Oprah: When you were asked a while back what grade you would give President Obama, I recall you said you'd give him an F.

Mitt Romney: Absolutely.

Oprah: And I remember thinking at the time, I wonder if you've ever had an F. Did you ever get an F in anything? [All laugh.]

Mitt Romney: I got an F on a paper once. Political science, actually.

Oprah: No.

Mitt Romney: I'm not a political scientist. I'm a leader and a business guy.

Oprah: The reason I ask is that, to get an F, it means...

Mitt Romney: You've failed.

Oprah: Well, not just failed—it's like you didn't show up, you didn't try, you did nothing. So I'm just wondering if you want to reconsider the F.

Mitt Romney: Well, let's say there's pass and there's fail. And the idea is, the president did not get the economy turned around. Here we are now, 41 months of unemployment above 8 percent. We were supposed to be at 5.6 percent by now. He set the standard, and he didn't achieve it. And the reason he didn't achieve it, in my opinion, is that instead of focusing on the economy and jobs from day one, he did all these other things. Cap and trade, card check for union members, Dodd-Frank, Obamacare...the list goes on. And, interestingly, almost every single one of these things made it harder for entrepreneurs to start a business, or for a bigger business to decide to expand. The things he did were counter-job-creating. And so we're struggling. I see businesses every day that say to me, Can't you get the government out of the way?

Oprah: So what is the one thing you can say that you actually like about your opponent?

Mitt Romney: Well, I'm glad he got Osama bin Laden, that's one. A man's been in office three and a half years, he does hundreds of things. I'm sure there are a few that are fine.

Oprah: Let me ask you, the latest survey I saw said that about 62 percent of Mormons believe that Americans don't understand what it means to be a Mormon. What does it mean to you to be a Mormon?

Mitt Romney: Well, it was the faith that I grew up in. It taught me a deep and abiding love of God and his son Jesus Christ, and I did my best to be a better person in part because of my faith. My faith teaches me to serve, to give of myself to others. We pretty much throughout our lives have given about 10 percent of our gross income to our church and 10 percent or more of our time to serving in our church and our community.

Ann Romney: Then we give to charity, too.

Mitt Romney: And then we give to other things as well, but the church gets 10 percent of our gross income.

Oprah: Still to this day.

Mitt Romney: Still to this day.

Next: Romney on how God influences him