Indian American city councilmember Nithya Raman has lost a double-digit lead over Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, with a new poll showing the two tied days before Tuesday’s election, and her hopes may rest on younger voters who have so far been slow to return their ballots.
The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and conducted October 19-25, found Bass and Raman each at 40 per cent among likely voters, with 19 per cent undecided, USA TODAY reported.
In the same poll in September, Raman led Bass by 11 percentage points.
Voters who backed reality television personality Spencer Pratt in the June 2 primary favoured Bass, 41 per cent, over Raman, 14 per cent, according to the poll. Bass received about 34 per cent of the primary vote and Raman 29 per cent.
Raman’s strength lies with younger voters. She is backed by 69 per cent of likely voters aged 18 to 29, against 15 per cent for Bass, and by 74 per cent of those aged 30 to 39, against 16 per cent, the Los Angeles Times reported.
But turnout data point to a problem. As of Wednesday, only 13 per cent of eligible voters aged 18 to 34 had submitted ballots, compared with 47 per cent of those over 65, according to the research firm Political Data Intelligence, the Times said.
Raman’s campaign has been courting young voters with social media videos, including one modelled on the film “Mean Girls” that has drawn more than 200,000 views.
“People are sick of establishment politics and want to see a change in the status quo,” Raman campaign spokesperson Liz Garcia told the Times.
Bass, 73, has said she is not ceding the group. “I do understand that there is a sector of young people that do not agree with me, and I respect that. I was them,” she told the newspaper. “I’m not somebody that believes that I go around lecturing young people to tell them the ways to do things. I understand and respect where they’re coming from, and we’ll be here waiting for them after I win.”
Bass has drawn endorsements from billionaire developer Rick Caruso, her 2022 rival, and former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Raman has the backing of the Sierra Club, actor Mindy Kaling and County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
Raman, 45, was born in Kerala and moved to the US as a child. A win would make her the first Indian American mayor of Los Angeles and would mark the first defeat of an incumbent LA mayor since 2005.
The election is on November 3.
