55% of public think Olympics will be good for London
A YouGov survey has shown that 55% of those interviewed believed that the 2012 Olympics would be good for London generally, and 44% agreed that London should have bid to hold the Games.
The survey showed that 42% thought that with the benefit of hindsight, London should not have bid to hold the Olympics.
With exactly one year to go until the Olympic Games begin, the survey of 2,783 British adults showed that 40% described themselves as ‘very interested’ or ‘fairly interested’ in the Games.
The research also showed that 58% categorised themselves as being ‘not very interested’ or ‘not at all interested’ in the Games– although YouGov has said that a few days before the Royal Wedding, 56% classed themselves as not being very or at all interested in that event.
Joe Twyman, director of political and social research at YouGov, said: “Although some people still need to be convinced about the London Olympics, with a year to go the benefits to London are recognised by a majority of people and, as we saw with the Royal Wedding, interest across the nation is likely to increase as we get closer to the event itself.”
The survey revealed that 68% rated athletics as one of their top five sports; 29% thought squash should be added to the list of Olympic sports; and 60% were disappointed in the way that the tickets had been sold.