Median Strategies says it stopped a Los Angeles mayoral poll after calling the results “fake,” disputing a claimed Karen Bass lead over Nithya Raman

A Los Angeles mayoral race poll that claimed Mayor Karen Bass had a wide lead over City Council member Nithya Raman was labeled “fake” by the company that released it, which said it has stopped the poll, according to a Monday announcement reported by The Hill.

The dispute centers on a poll released earlier this month that portrayed a large gap between Bass and Raman. The Hill reported that Median Strategies, the firm behind the poll, later said the poll was not legitimate and that it has stopped using or distributing the results.

Median Strategies’ action raises questions about how the contested numbers were circulated and how quickly they were corrected once the company concluded the underlying materials were not valid. The Hill described the company’s Monday announcement as a withdrawal of the poll’s findings after it concluded they were bogus.

The episode comes amid heightened interest in how polling is used by campaigns, donors, local media outlets, and voters to assess momentum in a major municipal contest. In Los Angeles, the mayoral race is decided through a local electoral process, and polling snapshots can affect how people evaluate candidates between official milestones.

Bass, a Democrat who has served as mayor, is an incumbent in the race, while Raman is a sitting member of the Los Angeles City Council. The rejected polling result had presented them as separated by a large margin, but Median Strategies’ statement disputed that framing by withdrawing the poll’s validity.

Beyond the immediate contest, the controversy highlights the role of pollsters and polling firms in guaranteeing that respondents, methods, and calculations are accurate. When a firm reverses course after releasing figures, it can trigger scrutiny of sourcing, methodology, and the safeguards companies use before publishing toplines.

A key next step is whether any entities that previously referenced the poll update their reporting or public summaries in response to Median Strategies’ withdrawal, and whether additional details about what was wrong with the poll are made public by the firm or by other parties involved.