Two of Newsmax’s favorite (right-wing) pollsters weighed in on a May 11 Newsmax TV appearance:
Polling experts Jim McLaughlin and Patrick Allocco told Newsmax on Monday they both believe former reality TV star Spencer Pratt has a shot to be Los Angeles’ next mayor.
“Pratt is hitting all the right notes to win,” Allocco, founder of Zoose Political Index, told “Finnerty.” “He’s running against an extremely unpopular incumbent.”
Allocco noted Pratt, who previously starred on “The Hills,” is running against incumbent mayor Karen Bass and vowing to bring competence to City Hall.
“Clean up the streets, fix the potholes, and deal with the homeless situation,” Allocco said. “He’ll attract not only independents but frustrated Democrats who are tired of defending dysfunction.”
McLaughlin, co-founder of McLaughlin and Associates, noted Bass has been polling with only 25% support.
“We have a saying in polling: Usually what an incumbent’s got, that’s all they’re going to get,” McLaughlin said. “So you have about 75% of the electorate … voting against her.”
McLaughlin noted that a labor union ad attacking Pratt for opposing homelessness and supporting the hiring of more police officers is likely to backfire on Bass.
As it turned out, Bass is not as “desperate” as McLaughlin claimed — she won the primary with just over one-third of the vote. And Pratt placed third with just 25.5 percent of the vote, meaning that he failed to advance to the general election.
McLaughlin cranks out right-wing-friendly polls for Newsmax, and Allocco puts a pro-Trump spin on his polls in his Newsmax TV appearances.