Ponnuru has often been identified as a leader of the "reform conservative" movement, and was prominently featured in a 2014 "New York Times Magazine" cover story about the conservative intellectuals who comprise it. The "Times"' Sam Tanenhaus described Ponnuro as one of a small group of young conservative Republicans, who, each one, "was an intellectual prodigy in his 30s" who together had "become the leaders of a small band of reform conservatives, sometimes called reformicons, who believe the health of the G.O.P. hinges on jettisoning its age-old doctrine — orgiastic tax-cutting, the slashing of government programs, the championing of Wall Street — and using an altogether different vocabulary, backed by specific proposals, that will reconnect the party to middle-class and low-income voters."