New Poll: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass Wildfire Response Approval Rating 37%

According to a new poll released over the weekend, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ approval rating of her wildfire response reached a new low of only 37%, with a whopping 43% of likely voters in the city now saying that they would consider Republican leadership instead.

Since January 7th, Bass has received scorching criticism for her handling of the wildfire emergency, leading many to call for her resignation. Amongst Bass’ many criticisms tied to the fires includes her cutting $17.5 million from the LAFD in the 2024-2025 city budget, deciding to travel abroad in January despite knowing that a major emergency could happen with high speed winds being expected, giving a minimal response to the fires on the first day, refusing to answer press questions, having promised to never travel abroad as Mayor yet doing it anyway, and showing an overall general mismanagement of the fires once she returned to L.A.

She has even admitted that she has made some errors in handling the wildfire situation. In a CBS interview last week, Bass noted that going to Ghana was a mistake. When asked “Looking back, would you have taken that trip overseas?” she responded with a curt “No.”

Late last week, things only grew worse for Bass. During a roundtable discussion in the Pacific Palisades on Friday, President Donald Trump hammered Bass over her halfhearted response to the fires. Trump repeatedly sided with residents, and said that they should be able to access their properties immediately.

Bass contradicted herself several times on when residents can return to where their homes were. Bass also appeared visibly angry when residents told her during the meeting that “We can’t even get in there without Trump.”

“I just think you have to allow the people to go on their site and start the process tonight,” Trump said to Bass. “You have emergency powers, just like I do, and I’m exercising my emergency powers. You have to exercise them also.”

“And we will,” responded Bass, despite saying minutes later that residents would have to wait a week instead.

Further concerning for Bass is a growing recall effort against her. An unofficial Change.org petition currently has around 165,000 signatures from L.A. residents asking for her to resign, while official recall movements against her have started forming. One of them, Saving California, has said that they have taken initial steps in the process, with more on their effort to be out soon. While the Mayoral recall process is a bit intricate, around 320,000 signatures will need to be collected in order for a recall against her to go on the ballot. In comparison, 420,000 Angelinos voted for real estate developer Rick Caruso for Mayor in 2022.

All of this contributed to the results of a new Madison McQueen poll released over the weekend which found that only 37% of Los Angeles voters now approve  of Mayor Bass’ wildfire response. A majority 54% of all residents disapprove of the job Bass is doing with the fires, with 9% remaining undecided.

Another question in the poll asked residents who they would vote for in a Bass-Caruso Mayoral rematch if it was held today, with Caruso beating Bass 43% to 36%, with 21% remaining undecided. However, the most embarrassing question was the last one, asking residents if they would now consider Republican leadership in Los Angeles. 43% said yes, 46% said no and 11% were unsure, with the 43% being the highest for the GOP in the city in decades.

“Rather than follow predictable partisan patterns, voters in LA are fed up with failure and are demanding more competence from their elected officials,” said President of Madison McQueen, Owen Brennan, on Friday. “Clearly there is an opportunity for new leadership, new ideas, and new direction for Los Angeles. Across LA County, most voters say fire hydrants running dry should be cause for political leaders to lose their jobs. Voters also blamed one-party rule for the lack of sufficient water storage.”

Caruso has yet to respond to the poll. However, he has been one of the leading critics against Bass during the wildfires, fueling speculation that he may run for Mayor again in 2026.

“It’s all about leadership and management that we’re seeing failure of and all these residents are paying the ultimate price for that,” said Caruso the day after the wildfires started. “Why don’t you call the mayor who is out of the country and ask her. This is like a third world country. There is no water coming out of the fire hydrants. LA Mayor Karen Bass is on a foreign trip to Ghana.”

More recently, Caruso said that he wants to focus on rebuilding, but added that “There’s time for me to decide if I want to run or not.”

As for Bass, pollsters told the Globe on Monday that Bass’ approval rating today is likely even lower than when the poll was conducted between the 19th and 22nd.

“She couldn’t answer residents questions clearly,” said LA County pollster Manny Rodriguez to the Globe on Monday. “Trump did. Trump knew more about the situation and he had just gotten there hours before. There were registered Democrats in that office who voted for Bass essentially thanking Trump. That is not a good look for Bass.

“And then there is this recall attempt. Like you said, groups are now beginning the process. This isn’t good. So that 37% approval for Bass on the fires is likely lower right now. Oh, and let’s not forget the Palisades. Not only is the Los Angeles city part of that area usually a solid support bloc for Democrats, but a lot of rich donors live there too. Do you honestly think they’ll be donating to her reelection campaign in 2026?

“That’s just the Palisades too. All of L.A. has seen what her response has been. So that 37% is lower, and people will also now be wanting to vote for anyone else besides her at this point. And look at all of those voters saying they’ll consider Republicans. Like Hochman being elected in over Gascon, it took a bad experience for voters to go the other way. And these wildfires are making so many voters reconsider Bass right now.”