Majority of Torontonians support bid for 2024 Summer Olympics: poll

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A new poll conducted suggests most Torontonians support a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Around six in 10 respondents, or 61 per cent, said in the poll for Forum Research they are in favour of a bid, while three in 10, or 30 per cent, said they are opposed to the idea. Nine per cent of respondents have not formed an opinion.

Forum conducted a phone survey of 755 randomly-selected Toronto voters on Sunday. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The deadline for cities to register their interest with the International Olympic Committee is Sept. 15, with the winning city to be chosen in 2017.

At a news conference on Monday, Mayor John Tory said he will not be rushing into a bid and will consult with councillors and the public.

The poll found 52 per cent of respondents would vote for the councillor that supports an Olympic bid for Toronto, versus 26 per cent who say they won’t vote for a councillor that did.

Of the 30 per cent of Toronto voters who oppose the bid, 68 per cent of those surveyed will not vote for a councillor who supports an Olympic bid.

Toronto has officially bid and lost twice, most recently for the 2008 Summer Games. But Boston’s withdrawal from the race could make a potential Toronto bid “far more attractive,” particularly if no other American city steps up to the plate, experts said Monday.

“The Boston decision today certainly makes the landscape easier for a Canadian bid, a Toronto bid,” said Bruce Kidd, an Olympics expert at the University of Toronto.

Just bidding on the Olympics alone costs $50 million. And the event could cost as much as $6.9 billion, according to the city’s feasibility report from January of 2014.

Read the poll results below, or click here for a mobile-friendly version.

Forum Research Toronto Olympic Bid

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