Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is falling behind City Council member Nithya Raman in the city’s mayoral race, according to a new poll that also found a large share of voters still undecided.
The survey, released Wednesday by the University of California, Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, shows Raman with the support of 39 percent of Angelenos. Bass has the backing of just 28 percent of likely voters, while 33 percent remain unsure.
Poll director Mark DiCamillo told the Times that Raman “clearly has the advantage,” adding that her task is “a little less onerous than Bass.”
The poll delivers more bad news for the incumbent mayor. Sixty-three percent of respondents disapprove of Bass’s job performance, while only 28 percent approve and 9 percent have no opinion. Raman, by comparison, is viewed favorably by 40 percent and unfavorably by 39 percent, with 21 percent offering no opinion.
Bass’s handling of the devastating 2025 Palisades fire has fueled her negative standing with Angelenos since last year. Fifty-six percent of likely voters say she responded to the disaster poorly or very poorly. Just 14 percent say she did an excellent or good job, while 17 percent say she did a fair job. The deadly fire killed 12 people and destroyed more than 4,000 homes.
Raman leads Bass in nearly every part of the city. In the San Fernando Valley, north of downtown Los Angeles, Raman holds 34 percent support compared to 26 percent for Bass, with 40 percent undecided. On the Westside, Raman clings to a razor-thin 35-34 edge.
DiCamillo cautioned that the high number of undecided voters means that portion of the electorate remains fluid, calling it “extraordinarily unusual.”
He tied the large pool of undecided voters to residents who backed former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who finished third in the nonpartisan primary election in June with 26 percent of the vote. Among Pratt voters who have made up their minds, 22 percent prefer Bass and 16 percent favor Raman, the poll found.
The survey also revealed a stark generational divide. Voters ages 18 to 29 overwhelmingly favor Raman, 66 percent to 4 percent for Bass. Among those 30 to 39, Raman leads with 64 percent compared to 12 percent for Bass.
Half of likely voters ages 40 to 49 prefer Raman, while 18 percent choose Bass. The race tightens among voters 50 to 64, with Raman at 35 percent and Bass at 33 percent. Only voters 65 and older favor the mayor, backing Bass over Raman 41-21.
Previous polling showed a growing gap between the incumbent and the councilmember. Raman grabbed headlines over the summer by picking up several major labor endorsements, including from Unite Here Local 11, which represents hospitality workers at hotels and the airport.
The progressive candidate also secured the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America, the political organization of which she is a member.
The UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times survey was conducted Sept. 15-20 and included 2,150 respondents. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
