Fifty-seven percent of likely U.S. voters think the "great replacement" theory being hawked by GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is legitimate, according to a Rasmussen poll released Wednesday.
"Great replacement" is the idea that a group of people — "globalists," "elites," or Jews — is deliberately plotting to change the demographics of Western countries through immigration, interracial marriage, reducing the birth rate, and other means.
Media figures like Tucker Carlson have elevated the idea.
Ramaswamy during the early December GOP debate said the theory "is not some grand, right-wing conspiracy theory but a basic statement of the Democratic Party's platform."
He subsequently said on CNN, "I don't care about skin color ... Do you share the ideals of this country?"
He also said he did not want to stir violence.
"I want to be careful in the way that I speak about this," he said.
But he added, "As a leader, it is important to give people the permission to say in public what they'll otherwise say in private."
The Rasmussen poll, conducted Dec. 14 and 17-18 among 993 voters, has a sampling error of +/-3 percentage points.