64% of Londoners support Olympics

Londoners today gave their overwhelming support to the 2012 Olympics as organisers said they were on track to deliver "the best Games ever".

An exclusive Evening Standard poll reveals how millions are getting behind the Games despite facing the worst economic conditions since the Thirties.

Almost two thirds (64 per cent) are in favour of the capital hosting the event, half say it will leave an incredible legacy, and the poll suggests that at least 1.26 million people are planning to volunteer to get involved.

The ukNOW poll from Hall & Partners, polling 2,000 adults, shows that 58 per cent of Londoners believe 2012 will help regenerate the East End, and 52 per cent think it will boost the London economy.

The survey provides a huge boost for London's Games organisers.

However, 38 per cent of Londoners believe the Games will be a burden to the economy. Forty five per cent say the budget — at a cost to the taxpayer of £9.3 billion — is too high in the current economic climate.

The poll shows there is less enthusiasm outside the capital about the benefits of the Games. Only half (51 per cent) of those polled overall support the Olympics and a quarter (26 per cent) say they neither support nor oppose the project.

The findings suggest Londoners are seeing some evidence that gradual progress is being made on the Government's Olympic pledge to improve grassroots sport facilities and participation, though again those outside the capital are unconvinced.

In London 50 cent believed they would get better facilities while 38 per cent anticipated a rise in participation in the capital where only one in five adults takes regular exercise — a figure which is below the national average.

In a Standard poll after the Beijing Olympics last year one third of respondents criticised public sports facilities and 14 per cent said they had never used them.

European CEO Deborah Mills said: "These results give a fascinating insight into how people feel about the 2012 Olympic Games."