Vivek Ramaswamy, the biotech entrepreneur who has gone all in on Iowa to jumpstart his presidential bid, urged supporters not to believe the polls during a final appearance at a Cedar Rapids brewery hours ahead of Monday night’s caucuses.
Ramaswamy has visited all 99 counties in Iowa twice and even rented an apartment in Des Moines during the final stretch of the campaign. He said on Monday he had done nearly 400 events in the state.
A final Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll on Saturday showed him with the support of 8% of likely Republican caucus-goers, trailing Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley for second place. DeSantis registered support with 16% of likely GOP caucus-goers while Haley had 20%. Trump held a commanding lead of 48% of likely caucus-goers in the poll.
“I think what we’ve seen is bordering on a kind of election interference in our GOP primary,” he told about 100 supporters on Monday. He went on to claim that his name wasn’t being included in polls when voters were asked who they support, causing him to register lower levels of support.
“I think the media has prebaked a narrative about this race that is disconnected from the reality of where people are on the ground, but does have an effect of shaping what some of those less engaged people who don’t come to events think about the race.”
Ramaswamy spoke for 30 minutes and then spent nearly 45 minutes taking questions from attendees on a range of topics, including immigration and gun rights. He also dismissed a last-minute attack from Trump, who urged his supporters over the weekend not to vote for Ramaswamy.
“Very sly, but a vote for Vivek is a vote for the ‘other side’ – don’t get duped by this. Vote for ‘TRUMP,’ don’t waste your vote! Vivek is not MAGA,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Ramaswamy seemed to suggest the attacks came from Trump’s “handlers” and continued to decline to attack Trump. He emphasized how he has staunchly defended the former president as he has come under attack. “This system has made clear that they will stop at nothing, I mean nothing, to keep this man away from the White House.”
Gerry Dilla, who works in sales in Iowa City and plans to caucus for Ramaswamy, also dismissed Trump’s attacks. “It’s just more of his BS that I may have to listen to for the next four years.”
Several attendees mentioned they had seen him speak previously and thanked him for investing his campaign time in Iowa.
Steven Mosnik, a 56-year-old retiree who is supporting Ramaswamy, also said he didn’t believe the polls.
“The polls that I’ve gotten in the mail that I would respond to, they don’t include him,” Mosnik said. “They take the question and formulate the answer they want.
“Trump has a national platform, I mean he’s covered on every news channel every day, multiple times, I mean he’s already got the exposure,” he said. “Vivek doesn’t have exposure yet and they actually squash it.”
Mosnik was sitting next to Gaylen Vance, who is 68 and also retired, and was still deciding who he was going to support. He was deciding between Ramaswamy, DeSantis and Haley, but said he couldn’t caucus for Trump because of his claims of a stolen election.
“After Trump, Nikki’s got the best chance to win in the general. DeSantis could be the most like Trump without some of the extraneous crap. And Vivek’s the smartest guy in the room,” he said.
“I’d be happier with Trump if he could quit denying the election being stolen,” he added. “January 6 or not, he can’t keep claiming that all the way up and trying to win another one or not which he did.”
