Poll Finds Only 19% Of L.A. Residents Think Mayor Bass Did A Good Job Responding to Palisades Fire

According to a new UC Berkeley poll released on Wednesday, only 19% of Los Angeles residents think that Mayor Karen Bass did a good job responding to the Palisades fire in January, while a much larger 41% think that she did a poor or very poor job of doing so.

When broken down, the poll paints a dire political situation for Mayor Bass. In the wildfire response question, the total were 28% for a very poor job, 13% for poor job, 22% for fair job, 13% for good job, and only 6% for excellent job. The rest were of no opinion.

Even worse for Bass was a question over L.A. residents confidence in her ability to guide the L.A. recovery effort. Well over half, 54%, reported “not much” or “a little” confidence. Only 34% said “some” or “a great deal” of confidence. 12% gave no opinion.

Meanwhile, figures for both the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department were high. When it came to fighting the wildfires, 73% of L.A. County residents said that LA County Fire did a good or excellent job, with 71% saying the same for the LAFD. This stat is particularly embarrassing for Bass as she fired LAPD Chief Kristen Crowley last month over alleged mishandling of the fire. However, Crowley was well defended, with many pointing out that Crowley and other LAFD officials kept correcting Bass with facts every time she tried to blame them. Many said in turn that Bass was just scapegoating Crowley for her own mismanagement.

Overall, the poll shows a damaged Bass. And when added to previous polls, including a late January poll that found that only 37% of Angelinos approved of her wildfire response, Bass has now found herself in a tight political spot.

“Bass has been wounded,” said UC Berkeley IGS head Mark DiCamillo. “Clearly, the effect of the fire is damaging her image, and it’s drawing all this real strong negativity in certain quarters.”

Before the fires, Bass demonstrated that wildfires striking the city were not high on her list of priorities. Last year, Bass led the movement to slash Los Angeles Fire Department for the 2024-2025 city budget. Originally aiming to cut $23 million, she managed to cut $17.5 million instead. Then, in early January, Bass was warned that very high Santa Ana winds were coming and was advised to stay in the city for the potential emergency. However, she instead carried on with her plans to travel to Accra, Ghana, where she was part of the U.S. delegation attending the inauguration of Ghana President John Mahama.

Bad news for Bass

When the fires struck in January, then-President Joe Biden, Governor Gavin Newsom, numerous local officials, and fire crews were quick to bring in relief on the ground. But Mayor Bass, in Ghana, showed a much less limited response. While she did declare a state of emergency from Ghana, she stayed another day there despite the emergency. She eventually flew back to Los Angeles on January 8th. However, by the time she landed, the Mayor was the main target of criticism, with many saying she refused to go back to the city in its time of need, that her policies contributed to the chaos of the lack of water in fire hydrants to fight the blazes, and that her decision to cut LAFD funds removed vital resources from firefighters.

Bass’ mismanagement, as well as her attempts to scapegoat an LAFD fire chief, led to an official recall attempt to begin earlier this month. The weekend revelation that Bass deleted her text messages from the day of and after the Palisades fire began only hurt her further.

Bass, once a likely shoo-in for reelection in 2026, now finds herself in a precarious situation where she has a good chance of either being recalled or defeated in the Mayoral election next year because of her wildfire mismanagement. Her 2022 Mayoral opponent, developer Rick Caruso, has publicly denounced Bass’ handling of the fires and has hinted at a 2026 run for Mayor against a weakened Bass. Other L.A. politicians are also expected to look into campaigns soon, especially if the recall effort makes the ballot this year.

“It’s no surprise here. She has no support anymore from the Palisades, I can tell you that,” explained Andrea Callas, a Pacific Palisades resident whose home was damaged during the wildfires in January, to the Globe on Wednesday. “No one wants her anymore. No one is going to vote for her. We want her out as soon as possible. Hate is a strong word word, but many people here, myself included, absolutely hate her.

“This has nothing to do with gender or race or creed or anything. This is purely being completely incompetent during the fires and then trying to blame everyone else for it happening. Good leaders don’t do that.”