On August 18, 2026, as the mayoral election in Los Angeles inches closer on November 3, a widely circulated poll showing the incumbent mayor, Karen Bass, leading City Council member Nithya Raman by nearly 12 percentage points was revealed on Monday (August 17) to be fabricated. The fake poll had been reported by the media and even shared by Bass’s campaign account.
The company claiming to be an “independent polling and research company,” Median Strategies, acknowledged that the poll was actually a “short-term social experiment.”
According to the fake poll, conducted between July 30 and August 5, surveying 560 Los Angeles voters with a margin of error of 4.1%, the results indicated Bass leading Raman by almost 12 percentage points.
The poll also claimed that 16% of respondents supported former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who had lost in the June primary; of those, about 85% indicated they planned to switch their support to Bass in November, while around 7% supported Raman.
Median Strategies further stated in its analysis that more moderate voters tended to favor Bass over Raman.
Median Strategies has since announced the termination of the poll project and retraction of all previously released polling data. The company’s website emphasized that these polls “should not be cited or considered as authentic polling data.”
In response to inquiries from the Los Angeles Times, Median Strategies stated, “Median Strategies was created as a short-term social experiment to examine how so-called polling information can enter and spread throughout the political information ecosystem without independent verification.”
The company also expressed, “We are not seeking exposure, do not wish to disclose the identities of related individuals, and decline interviews.”
The Los Angeles Times pointed out that Median Strategies had previously released a poll for the Wisconsin gubernatorial election, claiming that Democratic socialist Francesca Hong was leading by over 20 percentage points, but Hong ultimately failed in her bid for office.
This false poll not only circulated widely on the internet but was also reported by multiple news outlets.
Following the appearance of the fake poll on August 12, Bass’s campaign account had posted praising the related data, stating: “Working hard, getting involved personally, and steadily building momentum. Los Angeles, let’s do this together!”
After the poll was exposed as fake, Bass’s campaign team deleted the post and encouraged others to remove related content.
A spokesperson for Bass’s campaign team stated in a release, “This poll had been reported by multiple news outlets. Any malicious acts intended to influence elections should be investigated and pursued according to the law.”
Raman’s campaign team criticized Bass’s team for not verifying Median Strategies before sharing the polling results.
Liz Garcia, spokesperson for Raman’s campaign, criticized this as another example of dysfunction within the Bass administration. She said, “The residents of Los Angeles deserve a mayor who can get the facts straight, communicate clearly, and do the work before announcing results.”
Additionally, Kenneth Mejia, the Los Angeles City Controller who has publicly endorsed Raman, remarked that when the poll was released, he had criticized it as a “push poll.”
Mejia wrote on social media, “I’ve also encountered ‘push polls’ saying I would lose by a landslide. Instead, we won with a landslide and set a record for the highest vote count in Los Angeles primary history.”