LOS ANGELES, CA — City Councilmember Nithya Raman has opened an 11-point lead over Mayor Karen Bass in the race for mayor, according to a new poll released Wednesday, though a third of likely voters remain undecided.
Raman was backed by 39% of likely Los Angeles voters compared with 28% for Bass in the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Another 33% were undecided ahead of the Nov. 3 election, the Times reported.
The online survey of 2,150 likely city voters was conducted Sept. 15-20 and had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
The Bass campaign downplayed the findings Wednesday and pointed to other recent polling that has shown a closer race or Bass ahead.
"One outlier poll which got the June primary wrong isn't reflective of the energy we see when talking to voters every day and what every other poll indicates — this is going to be a close race," Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack said in a statement.
The latest poll also found a significant age divide. The 45-year-old Raman had support from 66% of likely voters ages 18 to 29, compared with 4% for Bass. Among voters ages 30 to 39, Raman led 64% to 12%.
Bass, 72, led among voters 65 and older, 41% to 21%.
Bass also received weaker favorability marks in the survey. Sixty-three percent of likely voters viewed her unfavorably, while 28% viewed her favorably. Raman was viewed favorably by 40% and unfavorably by 39%, with 21% expressing no opinion.
A major source of uncertainty is voters who supported former reality television star Spencer Pratt in the June primary. The poll found 63% of those voters remain undecided in the runoff. Bass finished first in the primary with 34% of the vote, followed by Raman with 29% and Pratt with about 26%.
The poll found Raman ahead in most parts of the city, while Bass led in South Los Angeles and the Harbor region, 37% to 34%.
In the San Fernando Valley, Raman had 34% to Bass' 26%, with 40% undecided. The two were nearly even on the Westside, where Raman had 35% and Bass 34%.
Voters identified city infrastructure, moving homeless people indoors, crime and public safety, and affordable housing among their leading concerns, according to the Times.
Raman scheduled a 3 p.m. news conference near downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday to discuss the poll findings.
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