In another move raising questions about the future of his GOP presidential bid, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign ended all its TV ad spending this week and, for now, doesn't have any spots reserved to resume such on-screen pitches to early-state Republicans.
According to an NBC News review of the Ramaswamy campaign's recent advertising, "more than $200,000" was spent on TV ads in the first full week of December, but his campaign's overall spend decreased to "just $6,000 on ads — all of it on TV" last week.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign has stopped spending money on television ads and does not have any TV ad reservations booked, according to his campaign. https://t.co/Ra6tBQbs1V
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 26, 2023
In a response to NBC News, Ramaswamy campaign press secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the campaign is instead focused on "bringing out the voters we've identified" when early-state voting gets underway with the Iowa caucuses on January 15, followed up by the New Hampshire primary on January 23.
According to McLaughlin, the campaign sees the "best way" to reach Republicans as being "addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors" and hopes that the non-TV strategy will spur Ramaswamy's supporters to make a plan to participate in the caucuses and ensure they turn out on caucus night in little more than two weeks.
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In an acknowledgment of the unorthodox move heading into Iowa, Ramaswamy's press secretary said "this isn't what most campaigns look like" but said the campaign's strategy was "intentionally structured this way so that we have the ability to be nimble and hypertargered in our ad spending."
Ramaswamy addressed the NBC News report on his campaign's decision to cancel TV ad spending in a post on X calling presidential TV ad spending "idiotic" and a "trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ." Never mind, apparently, the fact that Ramaswamy spent more than $200,000 on such "idiotic" ads in the first full week of December.
Presidential TV ad spending is idiotic, low-ROI & a trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 27, 2023
We’re doing it differently. Spending $$ in a way that follows data…apparently a crazy idea in US politics.
Big surprise coming on Jan 15. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/i2X7Q5d2T9
While Ramaswamy stopped all spending on TV ads, his Republican rivals continue to spend heavily to get their faces and messages in front of voters before the primaries officially begin. NBC noted that, as Ramaswamy spent just $6,000 on TV spots last week, former President Donald Trump spent $1.1 million, former Ambassador Nikki Haley spent $1 million, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent $270,000, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spent $88,000.
The current RealClearPolitics polling average puts Ramaswamy in fourth place nationally at just 4.0 percent, trailing behind Haley, DeSantis, and Trump. In Iowa, he's also in fourth place with 5.9 percent compared with Haley's 16.1 percent support, DeSantis' 18.6 percent, and Trump's 51.3 percent.
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