Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he is expecting a strong showing in the key Iowa caucuses, which will be the first election in the GOP nominating process.
Ramaswamy told Axios in a Tuesday interview he believes his campaign will deliver a “surprise result” in the Hawkeye State, either winning the contest or coming close.
“If not an outright victory, I think we have a good shot at an outright victory, something close to it,” he said, adding he would at least expect a “solid second or third.”
The entrepreneur said finishing in second or third would “overperform the expectation” his campaign has.
Ramaswamy has been among the higher tier of candidates in the Republican field in the polls, nationally and in Iowa, but he has mostly stayed around fourth place.
The RealClearPolitics polling average has Ramaswamy in fourth nationwide at 4.5 percent support, while FiveThirtyEight has him in the same spot with 5.6 percent. Meanwhile, he comes in fifth in FiveThirtyEight’s average of Iowa polls with 5.3 percent.
Ramaswamy told Axios the polls are not picking up on the many people who attend his events, and the campaign is disproportionately drawing in people who have not previously voted in the Iowa caucuses.
He said he believes he is “way ahead” of where former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) was when he won the Iowa caucuses during the 2012 presidential election. Santorum narrowly took the caucuses but lost the nomination.
Ramaswamy said Santorum was unprepared to continue his run in future states like New Hampshire, which holds the first Republican primary.
Performing well in Iowa could provide a significant boost for candidates in the race. The state has historically played a role in narrowing the field.