US first presidential debate: Vivek Ramaswamy’s popularity on rise after he gets $450,000 in donations in an hour

Indian-American multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has raised more than $450,000 in the first hour after the debate on Wednesday, according to his campaign details. 

Campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the first Republican presidential debate on Wednesday gave an opportunity for candidates to present their cases directly to a national audience. This is translating into fundraising boosts.  

Ramaswamy, 38, collected more than $450,000 in donations in the first hour after the debate. Ramaswamy has largely been self-funding his campaign and raised more than $7.7 million in the second quarter. He finished with more than $9 million on hand. 

Ramaswamy, a political newcomer, took the center stage in the absence of current GOP front-runner Donald Trump. He reportedly delivered some memorable moments during the debate, after he criticised some of his rivals calling them as “super PAC puppets”. 

Ramaswamy's main opponents are former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former vice president Mike Pence and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. All of them criticised him throughout the discussion. 

In the initial post-debate poll, 28 per cent of the 504 people voted that Ramaswamy's performance was the most outstanding. 

Former President Donald Trump, who is the early front-runner for the nomination, skipped the debate. 

Ron DeSantis of Florida, who received 27 per cent of the vote, and Mike Pence, who received 13 per cent, were not far behind. 

The other 7 per cent of the respondents backed Haley. 

"Vivek Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old political novice, grabbed the spotlight at Wednesday's prime-time GOP presidential debate, but there was little sign he or any other contender had found a new strategy for overtaking front-runner Donald Trump," The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Fox News reported that Ramaswamy was the most Google-searched GOP candidate for the first Republican presidential debate. He was followed by fellow Indian-American Haley.  

Both the Indian-Americans were standing next to each other on the debate stage. 

The NBC news described the first debate as "Vivek Ramaswamy Show". 

"That's our top takeaway from last night's first GOP presidential debate, where the political newcomer Ramaswamy seized the mantle as Donald Trump's defender – but also bore the brunt of attacks from rivals on his inexperience and foreign-policy positions," the news channel reported. According to it, Ramaswamy was attacked 11 times by his rivals during the debate. 

According to Messenger, the debate resulted in the rise of Ramaswamy's popularity. 

"Vivek Ramaswamy sparred with Mike Pence. He battled Chris Christie. And he picked a fight with Nikki Haley. The longshot candidate and entrepreneur dominated the debate stage on Wednesday night, using his outlier policy views to grab attention and stoke the outrage of his opponents. Ramaswamy also gave his rivals an opponent to attack without alienating Trump supporters or elevating the second-place DeSantis," it said. 

A handful of candidates had gotten creative in their fundraising appeals in order to meet the Republican National Committee’s 40,000 minimum unique donor requirement for debate participants. Some of the ploys worked, such as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s giveaway of $20 “Biden Relief Cards” in exchange for donations as low as $1. 

(With agency inputs)

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