A new referendum from Release of UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs Friday found that Latinos are largely undecided on who they plan to vote for in the upcoming L.A. mayoral primary.
Only two months before Election Day, 44% of Latinos said they were undecided about who should lead the city with the largest percentage of Latinos in the United States.
Overall, voters of all ethnic backgrounds remained largely undecided, with 40% unsure who they planned to support when voting began on June 2.
“It is unusual for 40% of likely voters to be unsure of their choice just two months before the L.A. mayoral election,” Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, said in a press release.
The lack of certainty among voters is due to a lack of confidence in current Mayor Karen Bass.
Among Latinos, Bás received the most support of any individual candidate, with 29% of Latino voters saying they planned to vote for the 72-year-old politician. Overall, only 25% of voters planned to vote for Bass. To re-secure his position, Bass would need to receive more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff election against the other leading candidate in the June election.
According to a separate poll released in March, more than half of voters said they viewed Bass unfavorably, with many pointing to his Dealing with the devastating Palisades fire As a big stain on his reputation. Only 31% of people in that survey viewed him favourably.
During her successful 2022 mayoral campaign, Bass relied on Latino voters to propel her past fellow mayoral candidate Rick Caruso in a tight race. LA’s Latino vote helps him trail billionaire developer by 2.5 percentage points unassailable two-point lead.
Bass was boosted, in part, by endorsements from prominent Latino leaders like labor icon Dolores Huerta, Sen. Alex Padilla and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
In a recent poll, the second-most supported candidate among Latinos was Republican candidate Spencer Pratt, with 9% of Latino voters saying they would support the reality TV star turned politician. The 42-year-old dark horse contender has recently made more efforts to attract the Latino vote through meme-y Internet tactics and even used Spanish to create a new nickname for Basura — “Karen Basura.”
Pratt polled higher with white and Asian voters, receiving 12% of the vote from each group. Overall, 11% of those surveyed said they planned to vote for Pratt.
Latinos were evenly divided over the more left-leaning Democratic candidates: LA City Council member Nitya Raman and community organizer Rae Huang, who polled 5% with the demographic.
Support for Ramon had the largest disparity between Latinos and the total population surveyed, as 9% of all those surveyed said they would support the 44-year-old LA politician.
Raman was more popular among white and Asian voters, receiving support from 12% of white voters and 14% of Asian voters surveyed.
A recent Loyola Marymount poll placed Raman as the leading candidate in the mayoral race. Raman had a strong lead over a field of five major candidates, with 33% of voters supporting him, while Bas was behind at 17%. Huang came in close behind Bass with 17% and Pratt had 12%.
