Vivek Ramaswamy’s Image as the ‘New Shiny Object’ Grows Dull

WINDHAM, N.H. — On the first Wednesday in November, Vivek Ramaswamy was holding a town hall. 

He’d started the morning shaking hands at the Red Arrow Diner, a classic campaign stop, and had already debated a Democratic congressman before lunchtime. Now he was at a chapel in Windham, where he’d taken questions from voters on everything from transgender issues to foreign wars for the better part of an hour. 

The last person to ask Ramaswamy a question praised him, but said he had a sobering point to address: “Why aren’t you higher in the polls?”

Ramaswamy has spent more time and held more events in the early nominating states of Iowa and New Hampshire than any other candidate in the race. He’s poured millions of his own dollars into his campaign and has appeared on countless podcasts and TV shows to get his message across.

Still, the 38-year-old businessman — and first-time politician — has stalled in early state polls in the months since his breakout debate performance in August.

“He peaked too early,” said Andrew Smith, the director of the UNH Survey Center. “He became a target. He was relatively unknown, a new fresh face, but some of the things he said after the spotlight was put on him, I think, didn’t reflect well.” 

Ramaswamy is hardly the only Republican struggling to gain traction in the primary. Former President Donald Trump was 30 percentage points ahead of his closest New Hampshire rival in a recent poll, and he’s doing nearly as well in Iowa. But the number Ramaswamy has seen go up is his unfavorability rating, and the Iowa caucuses are only 74 days away. 

“We're going to stop at nothing until we win. And so I think you're gonna see that pretty soon, and it's going to ramp up. So stay posted,” Ramaswamy told reporters on Wednesday, offering few details about what that might entail. “The tip of the iceberg is what you've seen so far. And between now and January, I'm fully confident we're going to be successful.”

The campaign said it will "be making a serious investment in Iowa and New Hampshire."

Ramaswamy is tied for fifth place in both Iowa and New Hampshire, recent polls show, placing him behind Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott or Chris Christie, depending on the state. Ramaswamy was tied with Christie in the newest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, although Christie has all but ignored the Hawkeye State and Ramaswamy has been there so often that he just began renting an apartment in Des Moines. 

Ramaswamy had 4% of support among likely New Hampshire primary voters and likely GOP Iowa caucus goers in both surveys. His numbers were even lower (1%) in a recent South Carolina poll, where two statewide elected officials are in the presidential race. Sixty percent of Republican South Carolina primary voters say they would not vote for Ramaswamy under any circumstances. 

“I've seen this so many times over the years. The new, shiny object all of a sudden gets a whole bunch of attention, and then they begin to peel back, or they begin to look at positions on issues, and then they may begin to look at other candidates,” said Bruce Berke, a New Hampshire Republican who advised John Kasich in 2016. “It's not necessarily anything against Vivek. It’s somewhat the nature of the polling public.”

Ramaswamy has faced sharp criticism for his foreign policy views, especially after Hamas launched a bloody attack on Israel and as Congress weighs funding for conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. He’s also opted recently to tie himself to controversial figures like Alex Jones, who was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion for spreading lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, and Russell Brand, who has been accused of rape and sexual assault.

His stance on foreign policy did land him an endorsement on Wednesday, though. State Rep. Cyril Aures switched allegiances from DeSantis to Ramaswamy and stood beside him after a debate at Saint Anselm College to show his support. 

“He reminds me of Trump back in the day, only much better spoken, more intellectual, and he doesn’t want to keep us in these ongoing wars,” Aures said of Ramaswamy.  

Back in Windham, Ramaswamy took the town hall question in stride. He pointed out that he was almost entirely unknown to Republican voters when he launched his primary campaign in the spring. He criticized super PACs spending millions of dollars on TV ads and mail to boost the chances of his primary opponents, although the pro-Ramaswamy American Exceptionalism super PAC has sent mail to voters on his behalf.

Ramaswamy has so far had the second-least TV ad support in the primary, according to AdImpact, which tracks ad spending. He’s seen $5.7 million in ad support, while DeSantis has had $42 million.

He said that many of his voters aren’t picked up in polls, and that the nature of the New Hampshire primary will help him pull off a win.

“If this entire election were held on the same day … A guy like me has no chance. Forget about it. Coming in from the outside, no chance,” Ramaswamy said in ending his town hall. “A guy like me has a chance because New Hampshire goes first.”

But even in New Hampshire, Ramaswamy faces the challenge of pulling voters away from Trump, the frontrunner who he often praises on the campaign trail. Brentwood resident Silvester Humaj, who attended the Windham town hall, said he liked what Ramaswamy had to say but was undecided on whether to vote for him or Trump. Humaj would rather see them as running mates. 

“He's really targeting the Trump constituency,” Berke said. “And right now, the Trump constituency is sticking with Trump.”