Bass, de León Are Early Frontrunners In Mayor's Race, Poll Finds

LOS ANGELES, CA — With just under four months until the June 7 primary, Rep. Karen Bass appears to be the early frontrunner in the race to be the next mayor of Los Angeles, according to a poll conducted by UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies. The congresswoman's edge in the polls matches her edge in fundraising as well.

The poll of 2,136 registered voters in Los Angeles gave Bass, D-Los Angeles, a significant edge among both registered and likely voters. Bass was the first-choice candidate for 25 percent of registered voters and 32 percent of likely voters followed by Councilman Kevin de León, who is the first choice for 8 percent of both registered voters and likely voters.

Coming in third was real estate developer Rick Caruso. He's the first choice for 7 percent of registered voters and 8 percent of likely voters. However, the poll sponsored by the Los Angeles Times was conducted from Feb. 3 to Feb. 10 — two full days before he made his candidacy official.

The deadline to file candidacy papers with the city clerk's office was Feb. 12. With the slate of candidates newly official, the jockeying for frontrunner status will heat up. Only the top two vote-getters June. 7 will love onto the November general election.

The poll was conducted in English and Spanish, and 1,446 of the participants indicated they were likely to vote in the June 7 primary, according to The Times.

Councilman Joe Buscaino and City Attorney Mike Feuer were both first choices for 4% of registered voters and 4% of likely voters. Real estate broker Mel Wilson and businessman Ramit Varma each polled at 1% for likely voters and registered voters.

Bass also had the best favorability ratings of any of the candidates. According to the poll, 32% of registered voters said they had a favorable opinion of the Congresswoman and even more likely voters – 42 percent — viewed her favorably.

But favorability may not translate into votes. The same pool of likely voters polled gave Feuer the second highest favorability rating at 21 percent though only 4 percent said he would be their top pick.

Click here to see the full poll results.

City News Service contributed to this report.