A public opinion survey conducted by a pollster across Hungary reveals that 49 per cent support Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, according to a report in Hungary Today. The same survey conducted between July 24 and 29 using a 1000 person sample indicated that 42 per cent were opposed.
The results come just days after Boston 2024 dropped its plans to bid for the same Games due to diminishing public support and the resistance of taxpayers to pay the bills. Polls in Massachusetts struggled to get past the 40 per cent approval rate.
Budapest’s European rival Hamburg has already announced that it will hold a referendum on the bid on November 29 while recent polls suggest that support for the German city is in the 60 per cent range. Earlier this week at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Kuala Lumpur, officials for both Paris and Rome, the other two European competitors, denied the need for referendums in their respective jurisdictions. Support in France is expected to be high while attitudes may be more questionable in the Italian capital where three years ago a bid for the 2020 Games was cancelled when the Prime Minister refused to guarantee costs amid a financial crisis.
A poll conducted in Toronto last week showed 61 per cent support a bid with 30 per cent opposed. The Canadian city has yet to declare its candidacy for the Games but has shown keen interest in bidding following a successful Pan Am Games there last month. Baku in Azerbaijan is reportedly also considering bidding, the deadline to submit nominations to the IOC is September 30.
The IOC will elect a host city in Lima, Peru in September 2017.
