Why Vivek Ramaswamy is rising in Republican presidential polls

Months ago, businessman and presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy was a little-known political outsider.

Now, he’s rising in several recent polls — putting him neck-and-neck with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as runner-up in the Republican primaries behind favorite Donald Trump.

“To be honest, I’m pleased but not that surprised,” Ramaswamy told The Post. “We’re seeing a broader activation of momentum.”

A recent Kaplan Strategies poll of primary voters found Ramaswamy tying DeSantis at 12%.

Similarly, a Harvard Harris poll conducted last week found Ramaswamy breaking double digits with 10% of likely Republican primary voters, coming within a hair of DeSantis’ 12% and trailing Trump’s 52%.

Harvard Harris declared that DeSantis is “losing steam to Ramaswamy.”

Pollster Doug Kaplan of Kaplan Strategies says Ramaswamy’s campaign is only just starting to take off.

“He’s just catching on now, so he’s just going to keep gaining,” Kaplan told The Post. “I think our poll is spot on.”

A former biotech investor turned anti-ESG crusader, 37-year-old Ramaswamy is running on a platform that calls for a radical dismantlement of federal agencies including the FBI and Department of Education, a commitment to America-first policies, and an isolationist approach to conflict in Ukraine.

Experts and Ramaswamy alike agree that much of his recent surge comes down to heightened awareness and exposure.

“My name ID was really low for a while,” Ramaswamy said. “Literally people hadn’t heard of me. But now that they have, the math is predictable.”

He points to two recent events— a panel in Iowa and a Turning Point USA rally — as major exposure points.

He’s also embraced a relentless media circuit. Ramaswamy has differentiated himself among Republican hopefuls as uniquely willing to engage a variety of outlets, appearing regularly on Fox News, NBC, and CNN since announcing his candidacy.

That consistent exposure has been paying off.

“He’s very media savvy,” an anonymous Republican operative supporting Trump’s re-election told The Post. “He does a lot of earned media, he’s interesting, and he comes across as someone speaking more normally than a politician with typical talking points.”

Kaplan’s analysis found the entrepreneur from Ohio has made particular inroads with independent voters and the 30- to 49-year-old demographic.

“Particularly, we are reaching a lot of young people,” Ramaswamy said. “I think we’re reaching a lot of independent-minded Republicans or even people who don’t traditionally think of themselves as old-school Republicans.”

According to the Ramaswamy campaign, he’s received contributions from 70,000 unique donors, 40% of whom have never given to a Republican candidate before.

“Many, if not most of them are young small-dollar donors, and that’s pretty distinctive for our campaign,” Ramaswamy told the Post.

J. Miles Coleman, Associate Editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said Ramaswamy’s recent polling performance is promising: “He has a few favorable polls. It’s not just one outlier. He seems to be on a good trend line.”

Coleman believes Ramaswamy might be picking up voters from DeSantis, who has been declining in polling for several months. He also believes the gains could boil down to an appealing personal profile.

“His biography is favorable,” Coleman told The Post. “Especially since Trump came along, the Republican electorate has really liked the profile of this outsider businessman.”

That outsider status has allowed Ramaswamy to differentiate himself with a campaign of radical decentralization — including pledges to dismantle the IRS and numerous other federal agencies.

“Because he’s a first timer, he can more credibly talk about draining the swamp as the outsider,” Coleman said.

Despite his political inexperience, Ramaswamy has made bold claims about efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine and sever ties between China and Russia.

“I have a plan to actually achieve peace in Ukraine and stop the China-Russia military alliance,” he told the Post. “It’s the mirror image of President Nixon’s diplomatic maneuver that distanced China from Russia in 1972, except this time Putin is the new Mao.”

Ramaswamy intends to make concessions to Russia — like ceding the Donbas region and agreeing not to admit Ukraine into NATO — in return for a complete dissolution of Russia’s military alliance with China.

Notably, Ramaswamy has avoided attacking Trump — even going as far as to pledge to pardon the recently indicted former president if elected. 

“He’s definitely stayed away from criticizing Trump,” Kaplan said. “He’s followed the Ted Cruz model of trying to not offend Trump supporters.”

It’s a position that’s garnered praise from Trump and his coalition. In fact, Make America Great Again Incorporated congratulated him for rising poll numbers, tweeting “It turns out respecting the Republican base pays off. Ron DeSantis could learn a lot from Ramaswamy’s campaign.”

And while Coleman expects Trump may “come up with a creative nickname” or “go after him more” if Ramaswamy continues to ascend to second place, it’s something the candidate says he doesn’t fear.

“I’m not concerned about anybody attacking me,” Ramaswamy said. “My view is if you can’t handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen.”

Other analysts think Ramaswamy is safe from attracting the former president’s ire.

“The more candidates there are in the race, the more diluted the anti-Trump vote is,” the Trump operative said. “Ron DeSantis failed to clear the field. If Vivek, [Tim] Scott and DeSantis are all stuck at 10%, Trump wins the primary. As long as Scott and Vivek don’t attack Trump, there is no reason for Trump to hit them.”

Analysts expect that the debate stage will be an opportunity for Ramaswamy, who just qualified for the primary debates, to shine.

“He’s a contrarian person who likes attention, so I’m sure Vivek will dominate the debate stage,” the anonymous Trump operative said.

Ramaswamy believes that the first primary debate in late August will be his opportunity to differentiate himself.

“The advantage of being in the position I’m in — which is independent in terms of not being reliant on the mega donor class — is that I’m truly free to say what I actually believe in an unconstrained way,” he said.

As he continues to gain ground, Ramaswamy says the youth vote will be a primary target — despite his proposal to raise the minimum voting age to 25.

“I think that young people are the missing link to winning a landslide election,” he told The Post. “There are other candidates in this primary who I believe genuinely can beat Joe Biden in a general by a narrow margin, but I think I’m the only candidate who can do it in a Reagan 1980-style landslide.”

“Bringing young voters — Millennials and Gen Z — in meaningful size with us will be a critical element to delivering on that landslide.”

Additional reporting by Jon Levine