A majority of LA voters are undecided in the mayoral race, with Bass backing 20%, the survey found.

A majority of voters in Los Angeles are undecided about the mayoral race, with support for incumbent Karen Bass at 20%, according to a new poll.

A poll by Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics found that nearly 51% of Angelenos are undecided about who should lead the city in the next four years.

Spencer Pratt, a reality TV star, came in second for Bass, with just over 10%. City Council member Nithya Raman, a former Bass colleague who shook the field with her last-minute entry, polled just over 9%. Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller was supported by just over 4% of those polled, and left-wing candidate Rae Huang by around 3%.

Although Bass is widely supported among the candidates in the June 2 primary election, the poll showed that nearly half of Angelenos were satisfied with his performance. He was weakened politically by his handling of the fire that destroyed the Palisades, but he has revealed that the rate of murder and homelessness has decreased.

About 25% of those polled said they approve of Bass’ job as mayor, while about 47% disapprove. About 28% said they had no opinion or felt neutral.

The poll, based on interviews with about 350 voters on March 7-9, revealed how the mayoral election will be held, three months before the first election.

“This is an open race,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former city council member and LA County executive who directs the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “A common narrative [of the poll] that the mayor is not liked by the person who will run for re-election, but the majority of people have not decided whether they will return to him or go to someone else.”

Bass campaign spokesman Doug Herman did not directly comment on the poll. But in a statement he said the mayor “took on the challenge of transforming Los Angeles after decades of decline on long-neglected issues; resulting in the first-ever decline in homelessness, the lowest homicide rate in 60 years and 40,000 affordable housing units added at a rapid pace.”

Pratt said through a campaign spokesperson, “Emerson’s poll confirms what we’ve been seeing on the ground – this is a two-person race for Mayor of Los Angeles between me and Karen Bass. Angelenos are frustrated with the way the city is doing and it shows in her low approval numbers. Our campaign is gaining real momentum as more voters look for new results and start looking for new results.”

Raman’s campaign, however, said he was the one to gain momentum.

“It’s clear that voters want change, and we’re gaining momentum in our campaign to make LA more accessible and to govern with urgency and accountability,” the campaign said in a statement.

The field of candidates did not appear until the week of the February filing deadline. Billionaire developer Rick Caruso and LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath both flirted before deciding against it, along with former schools LASupt. Austin Beutner dropped out of school after the death of his 22-year-old daughter. With no other major candidate opposing Bass, Raman filed his papers hours early.

As applications are still being verified, 13 have entered the June ballot. If no one receives 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two will go to a runoff in November.

“This race could change dramatically in June,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a statement.

Kimball cited large percentages of undecided voters of all stripes — 67% of independents, 49% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans undecided. Pratt is a Republican, and the other major candidates are Democrats in the blue city.

Pacific Palisades resident Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, stands with supporters after announcing his candidacy for mayor of Los Angeles on the one-year anniversary of the Palisades fire in Palisades Village on Jan. 7, 2026.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Polls aren’t the first to show negative opinions about Bass.

Last year, after the Palisades fire, a survey of LA County residents by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs found that 37% had a favorable opinion of the mayor, while 49% had an unfavorable opinion.

Emerson’s survey also raised questions on issues such as public safety and homelessness.

More than 82% of Angelenos polled said they felt very safe or somewhat safe in their communities, while about 17% said they felt very unsafe or not at all safe.

With homelessness, the outlook was not good. Only 15% of Angelenos polled say homelessness is getting better, while more than 55% say it’s getting worse. About 30% feel that they are not changing.

Los Angeles has seen a sharp decline in the number of homeless people on the streets in the past two years, after years of steady growth.

Bass says this decline is due to his signature of the Inside Safe program, which removes encampments and places homeless people in temporary housing.

“There’s no doubt that Inside Safe, by bringing thousands of people inside and reducing street homelessness by 17.5 percent, has saved lives and helped drive this decline,” Bass said in a statement Tuesday.

Emerson’s poll also asked Californians about the governor’s race. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) received the most support at just over 17%, followed by Republicans Steve Hilton at just over 13% and Chad Bianco at just over 11%. Billionaire Tom Steyer came in at about 11%.

About a quarter of California voters are undecided, according to the poll.

Paul Mitchell, a political data expert, called the Emerson poll flawed. Not enough Angelenos were surveyed, and the sample skewed heavily toward younger people, where older residents are more likely to vote, he said.

Mitchell called the poll an “amuse-bouche.”

“This tells all the candidates [they] we should be conducting a poll,” he said.