\u201cThe bottom line is this is a huge shot in the arm politically for Raman \u2014 and it\u2019s not a good day for the mayor,\u201d said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former L.A. City Council member who now runs the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.<\/p>\n
Dan Schnur, a former Republican political consultant, said the poll could have instant negative effects for the mayor\u2019s fundraising ability as potential supporters might now view Raman as the favorite in the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most immediate tangible result of a poll like this is that Bass\u2019 greatest advantage was her fundraising and it now becomes much more challenging to raise money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bass, appearing Wednesday at a news conference in Hollywood, said she\u2019s seen multiple polls that show a tight race. She said that Raman is \u201cabsolutely not\u201d the front-runner in the race. <\/p>\n
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Mayor Karen Bass speaks at Vermont\/Santa Monica Metro Center on Wednesday, touting progress on construction of affordable housing.<\/p>\n
(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
The mayor said she is working to highlight the city\u2019s progress in making rent more affordable, pointing to newly released numbers that show that more than 10,000 units of housing with restricted rents have been built since she took office in December 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe No. 1 issue to Angelenos continues to be lack of affordability, and our primary way of addressing that from the city is housing,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we are absolutely addressing affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others in the Bass camp seemed more anxious about the poll results.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt put a pit in stomachs,\u201d said one supporter close to the Bass campaign who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the poll. \u201cBut there is still an outside chance for Bass. It\u2019s not total doomsday.\u201d <\/p>\n
The supporter said that the Bass campaign truly doesn\u2019t believe Raman\u2019s lead is that big, but that the poll was still \u201cnot good news,\u201d especially for fundraising.<\/p>\n
Mike Bonin, a progressive former L.A. City Council member who now runs the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State Los Angeles, said Bass needs to focus on winning over voters who chose former reality television personality Spencer Pratt in the primary election in June. Many of those voters are now on the fence. <\/p>\n
Pratt received 26% of the vote in the primary, and most of the voters who cast ballots for him \u2014 63% \u2014 say they still haven\u2019t decided <\/a>whom to vote for in the runoff, the poll found. Among the Pratt voters <\/a>who have decided, 22% favored Bass compared with 16% for Raman.<\/p>\n Bonin said he expects Bass and her allies to attack Raman\u2019s progressive views in order to reach Pratt voters. Raman is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and opposed raises for Los Angeles Police Department officers that had been championed by Bass. <\/p>\n \u201cThe nature of the attacks will try to reach the Pratt voters particularly since they are the largest bloc of undecideds and they skew conservative,\u201d Bonin said.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD officers, is already airing campaign ads critical of Raman over her opposition to a law barring homeless encampments next to schools. In the coming days, the group will also roll out commercials highlighting Raman\u2019s ties to the DSA, which has endorsed her mayoral bid, said union spokesman Tom Saggau.<\/p>\n \u201cOur own poll told us that the Pratt folks were very much undecided, and that when they heard more about Nithya\u2019s record, and her co-governing with DSA, they moved off of her,\u201d he said, adding that his group still views the race as a dead heat.<\/p>\n Raman, not surprisingly, cheered the poll results. <\/p>\n \u201cThis poll reflects the momentum we\u2019re seeing on the ground. Angelenos are ready for change and want to see a City That Works,\u201d Raman said in a post on Instagram. <\/p>\n Raman campaign officials said the poll probably will help their fundraising efforts, which they said had already been gaining momentum over the last few weeks. And Schnur, the former GOP political consultant, said the wide lead allows Raman to spend more time touting her own credentials instead of disparaging Bass. <\/p>\n \u201cFor the most part Raman has the front-runner\u2019s luxury of putting out a positive message and reinforcing her own credentials,\u201d Schnur said. <\/p>\n Estevan Montemayor, who is running the pro-Raman Estamos con Nithya independent expenditure group, said his group\u2019s role will be to inform voters about Raman\u2019s positives while the Bass campaign attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re gonna come after Nithya and we\u2019re gonna be here to tell her success story,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bass supporter Stuart Waldman, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, said the large number of undecided voters this close to the Nov. 3 election is worrying but also leaves an opening for Bass to gain ground. <\/p>\n \u201cAny swing in any direction could make a big change,\u201d Waldman said. \u201cWe have no idea who\u2019s going to vote. … Usually by this point in time, everything has tightened up.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Nithya Raman, lower right, campaigns at a Latinos Con Raman rally at La Cita Bar in downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n (Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n In courting those undecided voters, however, Bass is burdened by high unfavorability numbers, according to the Berkeley IGS\/L.A. Times poll. <\/p>\n The mayor had 63% unfavorable ratings, the poll found, with 28% favorable and 9% having no opinion. By comparison, 40% had a favorable view of Raman, according to the poll, while 39% said they had an unfavorable view of her and 21% had no opinion.<\/p>\n Mike Murphy, a Republican political consultant, said that Bass needs to accept responsibility on core issues upsetting Angelenos about her tenure, such as homelessness and the 2025 Palisades fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes. In a recent interview with The Times<\/a>, Bass said her biggest mistake as mayor was being in Ghana when the fire began amid high wind warnings. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have to say, \u2018I hear you,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cVoters don\u2019t think Karen gets that they are mad about things that happened during her term.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, Murphy said, he believes Bass needs to attack Raman as being more establishment than Bass.<\/p>\n Murphy noted that Bass has frequently attacked Raman for being \u201cat City Hall longer than I have,\u201d which he called a powerful message to voters who are considering Raman because they want change. Raman was elected in 2020 and Bass in 2022. <\/p>\n Other polls taken in the campaign have shown a closer race than the Berkeley IGS\/L.A. Times poll. <\/p>\n In an internal Raman campaign poll from early September<\/a>, the council member was ahead, 44% to 39%, with 17% undecided. She was also leading, 38% to 32%, in a poll commissioned by the group Streets for All<\/a>, which is backing Raman.<\/p>\n![\"Nithya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790247730_107_.jpeg\")
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