Poll finds Boston Olympic support would improve with fiscal limit

(State House News Service) –A vast majority of Massachusetts voters believe hosting the Olympics will involve the use of taxpayer dollars, a Boston Globe-Sage Systems poll released Saturday found.

The same poll found public support for the Olympics bid would substantially improve if taxpayer funding was prohibited from helping to build venues or operate the games.

About 89 percent of those surveyed believe taxpayer support will be used for the 2024 Summer Games, with 66 percent saying that would be “very likely.”

As it stands now, only about 47 percent of those surveyed support Boston’s bid for the games.

Asked whether they would support the bid if public money was banned from building venues or operating the event, backing for the games grew to about 59 percent – with the largest gains among those who said they would “strongly support” the proposal.

On April 22-23 Sage Systems surveyed 804 voters in Massachusetts – about half of whom live in Boston – and the poll has a margin of error of 3.46 percent, according to the Globe.

Evan Falchuk, who founded the United Independent Party during an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, is pushing for a ballot question that would limit state expenditures to transportation upgrades only.

Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Whitman Republican, filed similar language as a proposed amendment to the state budget, which will be debated this week starting Monday.