(ATR) Support from Boston residents to the 2024 Olympic bid remains at 40 percent.
A new poll released by WBUR on Friday shows that the immediate reaction to the release of the new Boston 2024 bid plan did little to move the needle in terms of positive support.
Currently, the bid remains positive numbers will start trending upwards soon "as more residents take a closer look of our plans to bring the Games back to the United States."
"Boston 2024 is working hard to ensure that the people of Boston and the commonwealth have accurate information about the proposal to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as ample opportunities to voice their opinions and participate in the process," Boston 2024 said in a statement.
"These poll results show support is growing as more people see our 'Bid 2.0’ plans, which rely entirely on private financing for Olympic venues and operations and include substantial safeguards to make sure taxpayer dollars are not put at risk."
The statement from Boston 2024 is similar to the bid's last statement issued in June, saying that despite stable numbers, the bid is "confident" of growing support when people see the new plans.
While support for the bid remained stable, opposition for the bid became slightly greater. The last poll of Boston residents conducted by WBUR, in April, showed 50 percent opposition to the bid. In the latest poll, 53 percent of respondents reported opposition to the bid.
"It doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of movement right now," Steve Koczela, of The MassINC Polling Group who runs the poll, said to WBUR.
"But sometimes these small movements are evidence of a beginning of a trend."
Outside of the city, the polls show a slight uptick.
Statewide support for the bid came in at 42 percent with 50 percent registering opposition. The previous poll conducted in June showed that statewide support was only at 39 percent.
"Statewide support is relatively similar to what we saw in June, perhaps a slight tightening," Koczela said.
"There’s not a lot of time to get the poll numbers up to where the United States Olympic Committee can have confidence that the numbers are headed in the right direction in time for this decision."
The USOC says that they would like to see Boston registering 50 percent support or greater in the city, but would not give a timeframe for when they would like that to be achieved.
"We obviously want to see a positive trend, and the sooner the better," Larry Probst, USOC chairman, said to WBUR.
The last time Boston 2024 registered a majority of public support was in a January poll from WBUR, right after the city was named the United States host city for the 2024 Games. The city will have a referendum to decide the fate of the Olympic bid on November 16, 2016.
Written by Aaron Bauer
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
