by Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy businessman seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, has stopped spending money on cable television ads, a campaign official said Tuesday.
With just weeks before the Iowa caucuses begin voting for the nomination, Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign is maintaining its total spending on advertising, said campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. However, he is moving away from traditional television toward other methods of voter contact to achieve a “greater return on investment,” she added. NBC News first reported the interruption of television advertising spending by the campaign.
“We are simply following the data,” McLaughlin said in a statement, adding that “we are focused on engaging the voters we have identified; the best way to reach them is through targeted advertising, mailings, text messages and live calls “. and doors to communicate with our voters.”
He noted the enormous sums that have already been invested in the presidential campaign, saying that “$190 million has been spent on traditional advertising in this race nationwide. The polls have barely changed.”
However, this is an abrupt change in Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign strategy, who has spent millions on advertising. Ramaswamy’s campaign booked about $1 million on television ads in Iowa last month, nearly double what his campaign and an allied super PAC spent the month before.
But Ramaswamy has struggled to make headway in Iowa, despite heavy spending and a busy schedule of campaign appearances. Last month he estimated to reporters that he had spent about $20 million on his career to that point.
He remains a distant fourth in state polls, with less than 10 percent support. His approval ratings among Republicans nationally have also declined steadily since September, and his disapproval ratings among all Americans reached a new high in national polls.
He has recently pushed right-wing conspiracy theories in campaign appearances. He called the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol an “inside job,” claimed the 2020 election was stolen by “Big Tech,” and suggested the “great replacement theory” was Democratic policy.
McLaughlin noted that Ramaswamy’s campaign would continue to run some ads through digital television providers, for example, YouTube TV.
