A new poll shows the race for Los Angeles mayor in a dead heat with less than one week before Election Day in California.
The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times released Wednesday shows incumbent Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman both with support at 40% from likely Los Angeles voters. Nineteen percent remain undecided, according to the poll.
The figures represent a dramatic turnaround from the last Berkeley IGS/LA Times poll in the closely watched mayoral race, which showed Councilmember Raman, a former Bass ally, with a double-digit lead. A sizeable 33% of likely voters were undecided in the previous poll published in late September.
Raman, who placed second to Bass in the June primary, was favored by 39% of likely Los Angeles voters with Bass at 28% in the September poll.
The drop-off in undecided voters since then likely contributed to the comeback for Bass, who has never lost an election for public office, according to the poll’s director. That decline in undecided voters was significant among conservative voters who supported reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the June primary, director Mark DiCamillo told the Times.
In the September poll, 22% of Pratt voters indicated they planned to vote for Bass and 16% said they would vote for Raman. That left 63% of Pratt voters undecided.
In the latest poll, 41% of Pratt voters said they plan to back Bass over the candidate endorsed by the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Raman’s support among Pratt voters was at 14% in the October poll. Forty-five percent of Pratt voters remained undecided, according to the poll.
The poll released Wednesday was conducted online Oct. 19 and Oct. 25 in English and Spanish with a sample of 2,197 likely city of Los Angeles voters. The margin of error is about 3 percentage points, according to the Times.
The mayor’s favorable ratings, which took a significant decline after the January 2025 wildfires, remained low with 65% of respondents viewing her unfavorably. That figure was at 64% in the September poll. Thirty-two percent had a positive view of the mayor, according to the latest poll, up from 28% in the earlier poll.
In a statement, Raman’s campaign pointed to the mayor’s favorability ratings.
“After a month of attack ads and millions from her allies, Karen Bass still can’t get ahead,” the campaign said. “Today’s UC Berkeley IGS / LA Times poll shows her tied with Nithya Raman and Bass’ disapproval rating rising to 65%.
“To repeat: the incumbent mayor is even more unpopular in this poll than last month. And Nithya maintains a lead among Latino voters, with 43% support, compared to 40% for Bass.”
Bass finished with 34% of the vote in the June primary election with Raman finishing second, good enough to join the November runoff, at 29%. Pratt finished third at 25.5%.
The poll, the first since the two candidates met in an Oct. 13 debate hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo 52, also asked voters about their top priorities for Los Angeles’ next mayor. Reducing homeless encampments was, by far, the most important priority (43%) with ensuring public safety and building more affordable housing among other top issues (both 29%).
Refresh page for updates on this story.
