Vivek Ramaswamy, The Most Favoured Republican Presidential Candidate After Trump

Ramaswamy's rise is concentrated among voters who aren't registered Republicans and among young voters, CNN reported

Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley have used their Indian American identity and the complicated histories of immigration and belonging to tie into the model minority myth that continues to see communities of colour disenfranchised from decision-making power.  

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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Tech entrepreneur-turned-politician Vivek Ramaswamy is the second most popular Presidential Republican candidate after former US President Donald Trump in the latest GOP polls in the early primary state of New Hampshire, a CNN poll showed. 

According to the CNN survey, Donald Trump is still the most popular Republican leader in the Presidential race, with around 39 percent of GOP primary voters supporting him.  The Indian-origin Ramaswamy, with 13 percent support, followed by Nikki Haley, with 12 percent and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with 11 percent. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was earlier seen as the chief rival to Trump has seen voting share decline significantly and is now in the 5th spot.

"DeSantis' decline stems from a sharp drop-off among moderates, from 26 per cent backing him in July to 6 per cent now. He fell a smaller 8 points among conservatives," the CNN report noted.

Ramaswamy's rise is concentrated among the voters who aren't registered Republicans and among young voters, CNN reported. Meanwhile, Haley's voters are larger among voters with formal education and among moderates. 

Earlier, the 38-year-old Ramaswamy said that he would vote for Donald Trump if he becomes the party nominee and also cleared his intention to pardon Trump if he is elected as the next President of the US. 

While talking to ABC News, Ramaswamy said, “If Donald Trump's the nominee -- yes, I will support him, and if I'm the president, yes, I will pardon him because that will help reunite the country. But it's not the most important thing I'm going to do as the next president. It is the table stakes for moving this country forward,"

Who is Vivek Ramaswamy?

Ramaswamy was born to Indian immigrants in Ohio’s Cincinnati in August 1985. His father, G Ramaswamy, worked at the General Electric plant in Ohio’s Evendale, while his mother, Geetha, was a geriatric psychiatrist in Cincinnati. The pair had moved to the US from Kerala’s city of Palakkad.

He grew up in Ohio and went to Harvard University, where he earned a degree in molecular biology and graduated in 2007.

Subsequently, he attended Yale Law School to pursue a Doctor of Jurisprudence, where he was the president of the Harvard Political Union and used to perform “Eminem covers and original free-market-themed rap songs as a kind of alter ego called Da Vek,” a December 2022 New Yorker profile said.

After graduating from Harvard, Ramaswamy worked as an analyst at QVT Financial LP, a hedge fund based in New York. He then joined MPM Capital, a life sciences venture capital firm, where he focused on investing in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

In 2015, Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that aims to accelerate the development and delivery of new treatments for diseases. Roivant Sciences has raised over $3 billion in funding and has multiple subsidiaries focused on developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and cancer.

Six years later, he stepped down Roivant's CEO to publish his book 'Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam,' which debuted at the second spot on The New York Times bestseller list.

In 2022, he launched Strive Asset Management, a newly formed organisation dedicated to revitalising the voices of ordinary Americans in the American economy by motivating businesses to prioritise quality over politics.