CITY GRABS ANKLES, PREPARES TO VOTE: Shocking poll says half of Angelenos want a democratic socialist for mayor: ‘Holy Zohran Mamdani.’

The poll, conducted by Loyola Marymount University from February 11 to March 16, also puts incumbent Karen Bass second in the upcoming mayoral race at 17% of the vote, after progressive councilmember Nithya Raman, a member of the hard-left Democratic Socialists of America, listed at 32.5%.

About 47.7% of voters wanted a socialist in charge ahead of other listed types of candidates, such as a “moderate, business-oriented Democrat” and “conservative political outsider,” according to the poll.

The reaction from pundits and others: surprise and skepticism.

“Holy Zohran Mandami,” exclaimed Mike Madrid, an anti-Trump Republican strategist who co-founded the Lincoln Project.

Fernando Guerra, director of LMU’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles, told KPCC that the poll took an unusually different tactic in asking voters questions.

“Most polls, they just give the name,” Guerra said. “We kind of educated the voter before we asked, ‘Who would you support?’”

“Educated” is doing a whole lot of work in that sentence.