A new public opinion survey from Emerson College Polling, a nonpartisan polling center based at Emerson College, shows that far-left incumbent Mayor Karen Bass remains the frontrunner in the Los Angeles mayoral race, though challenger Spencer Pratt appears to be gaining popularity and traction, which has clearly alarmed the Democratic Party.
Local outlet Spectrum News 1 SoCal cited Emerson College’s new poll of the L.A. mayoral race, which shows Bass at 30%, Pratt at 22% (gaining ground), and Socialist Councilmember Nithya Raman at 19%.
The poll, conducted between May 9 and 10, came just a few days after the L.A. mayoral debate last Wednesday. An NBC Los Angeles poll showed Pratt dominated, with 88% of respondents saying he won.
🚨 LA MAYOR POLL: A whopping 88% say that @spencerpratt WON the Mayoral debate last night.
Spencer Pratt: 88%
Karen Bass: 7%
Nithya Rama: 5%It wasn’t even close. pic.twitter.com/EMUmw9sDDs
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) May 7, 2026
Spencer Pratt has been surging in popularity across L.A., thanks to his social media team’s impressive ability to go viral online, generating millions of likes, retweets, and views.
Karen Bass got FOMO. These AI attack ads are crazy desperate. pic.twitter.com/7nJrFISeQH
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) May 13, 2026
He has been particularly effective in messaging:
In L.A., that has not been difficult, as he has simply pointed out the truth: far-left Bass and her administration of leftists in City Hall have transformed the metro area into a DEI kingdom of crime and chaos in just a few short years through failed progressive policies.
Earlier this week, TMZ tried to derail Pratt’s campaign with a piece about how he was not living in an Airstream trailer on his burned-out property in the Palisades, which he blames Bass for failing to protect during the fire.
🚨 JUST IN: After TMZ ran a SMEAR PIECE on him, LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt took it to them DIRECTLY on their network — he showed up and PUMMELED the lies
They tried saying he misled people about living in the trailer because his house burned down — that he’s at a “hotel”… pic.twitter.com/VCBONdAKJP
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 13, 2026
Well, that backfired.
“Raman will drop out and Bass will surge, and in order for Pratt to make it beyond June 2, Bass needs to stay under 50%,” political commentator Katie Zacharia noted on X.
Raman will drop out and Bass will surge, and in order for Pratt to make it beyond June 2nd, Bass needs to stay under 50%.
— Katie Zacharia (@KatieZacharia) May 14, 2026
State-level Republicans nationwide should take note of Pratt’s effective campaign strategy and simply copy it. The truth about how Democrats ruined cities with nation-killing progressive policies is very easy to communicate to voters.