A UC Berkeley and Los Angeles Times poll released on Wednesday shows far-left mayoral candidate Nithya Raman leading incumbent Mayor Karen Bass by 11 percentage points in the Los Angeles mayoral race scheduled for 3 November. The poll of 2,150 likely voters found 39 per cent supporting Raman, 28 per cent supporting Bass, and a notably high 33 per cent remaining undecided—unusually high for a race just six weeks from election day. This matters because mail-in ballots open in two weeks and the result remains uncertain despite Raman's current lead.

The unusually large number of undecided voters reflects multiple competing pressures: concerns over Raman's policies, following accusations from the Los Angeles Police Protective League that she would defund police and implement socialist policies; Bass's unpopularity following her widely criticised response to the devastating 2025 Palisades wildfire, which killed 12 people and destroyed over 4,000 homes, with 56 per cent of voters rating her response as poor; and the elimination of third-place candidate Spencer Pratt, who received 26 per cent in the June primary, with 63 per cent of his supporters still undecided. Raman holds a 40 per cent favourable rating compared to Bass's 23 per cent.