Bass leads the field for L.A. mayor, but many voters view her unfavorably, poll finds
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has a lead over her challengers in her bid for reelection, but more than half of voters view her unfavorably, according to a poll released Sunday.Bass was supported by 25% of voters, while City Councilmember Nithya Raman drew 17% and conservative reality TV star Spencer Pratt came in third at 14% in the poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times.About a quarter of voters were undecided, the poll found.Bass has come under heavy criticism for her handling of the devastating Palisades fire.
More than a year later, 56% of those polled said they had an unfavorable view of her, while 31% viewed her favorably.The survey of 840 likely voters between March 9 and 15 provides one of the first snapshots of the mayoral race, less than three months before the June 2 primary.Beyond the top three, leftist Rae Huang notched support from 8% of those polled, while tech entrepreneur Adam Miller drew 6%.Despite Bass’ lead, the poll is “borderline catastrophic” for her, because the field of candidates is so weak, said Dan Schnur, a politics professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine.“That she’s having this much trouble against this field, against such a little-known field of opponents, bodes very, very poorly for her,” Schnur said.“The only thing saving her at this point is that the top tier of potential candidates who were considering running against her decided to stay out of this race.”The mayoral race solidified in early February, when Raman shocked the political establishment by jumping in against her ally Bass, hours before the filing deadline.
By that time, other well-known politicians, including billionaire developer Rick Caruso and L.A.County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, had opted to stay out of the race.
Former Los Angeles schools Supt.Austin Beutner dropped out following the death of his 22-year-old d...