An internal poll has shown a political newcomer surging to third place in the GOP’s presidential primary… despite censorship by some social media.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a conservative author, is polling in third, behind only former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Between May 16 and 18, pollsters at Cygnal conducted web-based interviews with 2,500 registered voters likely to participate in next year’s general election… and they found good news for Ramaswamy,
In a primary election held today, Trump would win 51.5 percent of the vote, a majority. DeSantis finds himself in second place, with 20.9 percent. In third place comes Ramaswamy, with 4.8 percent.
In other words, Ramaswamy is polling ahead of big-name possibilities like former Vice President Mike Pence (4.3 percent). The entrepreneur-turned-author is even polling ahead of declared candidates like South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (1.5 percent) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (4.7 percent).
The poll comes with some limits. For example, Cygnal serves as the Ramaswamy campaign’s internal pollster, rather than a public pollster. Plus, the pollsters failed to provide a definition of “likely voter.”
Still, Ramaswamy is outperforming expectations. By comparison, Kamala Harris became vice president after suspending a presidential campaign with polling numbers around 5 percent.
All the while, Ramaswamy is facing censorship from social media.
LinkedIn locked his account “for repeatedly sharing content that contains misleading or inaccurate information.”
The tech company flagged three of Ramaswamy’s posts. However, it refused to identify any inaccuracies in these posts, and it maintained its freedom to suspend anyone at its own whims.
“We can’t interpret the LinkedIn User Agreement or Professional Community Policies for you or tell you how it would be applied in any hypothetical situation or any case not specifically addressed in those documents,” a LinkedIn representative told the campaign in a canned email. “We understand that this might not be the response you wanted.”
Ramaswamy received a flurry of media attention after the ban. The New York Post said in a headline, “Vivek Ramaswamy censored for online ‘hate speech’ as poll shows surge.”
The candidate himself accused LinkedIn of election interference. “Sad but not surprising,” he said.
Take a look —
Big Tech election interference has begun: @LinkedIn locked my account & censored me this week for posting videos where I expressed fact-based views as a presidential candidate about climate policy and Biden’s relationships with China. They said it violated their policies relating… pic.twitter.com/ND2dFVnGAg
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 25, 2023
The Associated Press contributed to this article.