Ramaswamy rising? Tech mogul closing in on DeSantis for 2nd place in GOP primary

Tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy is closing in on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary, placing just 6 points behind him in a recent poll.

Ramaswamy claimed the support of 10% of likely voters in an Echelon Insights poll conducted June 26-29. DeSantis, meanwhile, claimed 16% support to former President Donald Trump's 49%.

The figures marked a 2% surge for Ramaswamy and a 3% drop for DeSantis since May.

No other candidate earned double digit support. Notably, Ramaswamy still appears to have room to grow as 38% of poll respondents indicated they never heard of him. Only 1% said so for Trump compared to 7% for DeSantis. The survey has a +/- 3.9% margin of error.

The Florida governor saw his political star, and presidential prospects, rise after cruising to a landslide 2022 reelection in the formerly battleground state. His campaign, however, has struggled to gain significant ground from Trump, even as his chief rival faces multiple indictments.

While the formerly amicable Trump-DeSantis relationship has turned decidedly sour amid the governor's challenge to Trump, the former president has generally offered supportive messages to Ramaswamy, who has generally expressed a favorable assessment of Trump's official tenure, but highlighted the need for fresh leadership for the country.

Ramaswamy's candidacy has generally been viewed as a longshot and the Echelon poll could be something of an outlier. The RealClearPolitics polling average, which does not include the Echelon survey, currently places Ramaswamy in a tie for 6th place with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Trump, DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott stand ahead of him in that metric. 

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.