A poll shows incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass falling flat with voters, while former reality TV star Spencer Pratt has improved his position against runner-up council member Nithya Raman in the nonpartisan mayoral primary.
Surveying 531 likely voters May 1-4 with a margin of error +/- 6.1 percent, the poll from Abundance Network in partnership with Tavern Research showed that Bass has hit a ceiling while Pratt and Raman are racing to take her on in a head-to-head matchup for mayor of Los Angeles, California.
“As Nithya Raman and Spencer Prattʼs numbers continue to rise from early March polling, Mayor Karen Bassʼs numbers are stubbornly stuck between 20-25 percent support from the primary electorate,” the poll found. “The most unpopular Democrat we asked about in our poll, Bass is only 4 points behind Pratt and 6 points behind Raman, an incredibly weak position for an incumbent with near universal name ID.”
“Importantly, this is the 3rd survey confirming Nithya Raman is in third place in this race as of the writing of this memo. In fact, in the Poll Average, she is currently a half point behind Pratt, and two points behind Pratt in the survey we just fielded,” it added.
It should be noted that the poll occurred prior to last week’s debate among Pratt, Bass, and Raman, in which analysts said Pratt outperformed expectations while Bass and Raman floundered.
“With no governing experience and a résumé built in reality television, Pratt, the lone Republican in the race, needed to prove during last night’s LA mayoral debate at the Skirball Cultural Center that he could do more than churn out AI generated social media clips and lob insults at his opponents,” noted Vanity Fair.
“And for stretches of the night, he cleared that bar simply by sounding articulate. ‘I’m the adult in the room,’ Pratt said. ‘This is what it’s come to.’ An informal online poll conducted by NBC4-LA showed that 89% of respondents thought that Pratt won the debate,” it added.
As the current poll stands, Raman would beat Bass in a head-to-head matchup, while Pratt still needs to improve his numbers to defeat either one.
“Both Bass and Raman beat Pratt in these match-ups, though Bassʼs performance vs. Pratt is driven mostly by the fact that people know her party affiliation (Democrat) more than they know the same for Raman or Pratt,” noted Abundance Network.
“Spencer Pratt, despite national media attention and social media virality, does not prevail in any head-to-head match-up in this data,” it added.