With just over two months until the mayoral primary, a majority of Los Angeles voters are fed up with Mayor Karen Bass, according to a new poll described as “downright devastating.”
The incumbent still leads the pack, albeit with just 25% of voter support — but roughly 25% of Angelenos are still undecided, according to a Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/Los Angeles Times poll.
Meanwhile, ultra-left City Councilwoman Nithya Raman and reality TV personality Spencer Pratt are gaining on Bass, garnering 17% and 15% of voter support, respectively, the poll shows.
A majority, 56%, of likely voters view LA Mayor Karen Bass negatively, while 13% said they have no opinion. Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesMore concerning for Bass is her unfavorable rating among voters. A majority — 56% of likely voters — view the mayor negatively, while just 13% say they have no opinion.
“These are very discouraging, if not downright devastating, poll numbers for Karen Bass,” Dan Schnur, a political communications lecturer at USC and UC Berkeley, told ABC7.
“She’s running ahead of her opponents only because they are not very well known. That she’s having this much trouble against such a little-known field bodes very, very poorly for her.
Pictured here with Gov. Gavin Newsom, Bass’s declining support is tied to her handling of the 2025 Palisades Fire. Getty Images“The only thing saving her at this point is that top-tier candidates who were considering running decided to stay out of the race.”
Bass’ campaign, however, remains confident despite what the polls show.
“It’s clear Angelenos are frustrated by decades of inaction on major issues. This campaign will show that it’s Karen Bass who changed the direction on these issues and that others running responded with reports while Karen Bass took action,” campaign adviser Doug Herman told The Post.
Bass’s declining support is tied, in large part, to her botched handling of the deadly 2025 Palisades Fire that killed 12 people and destroyed some 6,800 structures — including the home of mayoral contender Pratt.
Critics say City Hall was slow to respond and mishandled communications as evacuation orders were issued. In addition, Bass was overseas in Ghana when the fire broke out on Jan. 7, 2025 — despite forecasts of historic Santa Ana winds that ultimately fanned the inferno.
Meanwhile, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt is gaining on Bass in the LA mayoral race. Carlin Stiehl for California Post
Ultra-left City Councilwoman Nithya Raman is another mayoral candidate nipping at Bass’s heels. ZUMAPRESS.comThe Palisades Fire raged at the same time the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed some 9,400 structures in the Altadena area — in the jurisdiction of LA County, not the city of LA.
Bass has also faced questions about whether her office influenced edits to the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report on the Palisades Fire to cast officials in a more favorable light.
The mayoral primary is set for June 2. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two will advance to a November runoff.
Still, history may be on Bass’s side.
“Generally speaking, Angelenos tend to reelect their mayors. You have to go back more than 20 years, to 2005, to find the last mayor, James Hahn, who was not reelected,” Schnur said.
“So voters in Los Angeles tend to be pretty forgiving, even if they’re not seeing dramatic progress. But this poll, and this election, isn’t about broader progress on issues like housing and homelessness,” he added.
The first debate of the race took place Monday night, though Bass and Pratt did not take part.
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