Vancouver – Residents of British Columbia are no longer convinced that an attempt to host the Olympics again should be actively entertained at this point, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 43% of British Columbians think Vancouver should launch a bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2030, down 17 points since a similar Research Co. poll conducted in January 2020.
The notion of Vancouver launching a bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2036 is endorsed by 38% of British Columbians, down from 62% in January 2020.
In January 2020, significant majorities of British Columbians aged 18-to-34 (67%) and aged 35-to-54 (59%) were in favour of a new Winter Olympic bid from Vancouver. This month, the proportions have dropped to 52% among those aged 18-to-34 and to 40% among those aged 35-to-54.
Vancouver hosted the XXI Olympic Winter Games, from February 12 to February 28, 2010.
“The events of the past couple of years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent experience of Tokyo as a host city, appear to have made British Columbians more skeptical about a new Olympic bid,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Our survey shows that 17% of the province’s residents went from supporters to opponents when asked if Vancouver should host the Winter Olympics again.”
More than half of British Columbians (53%) think it is impossible for Vancouver to host the 2030 Winter Olympics without any public or government funds. This proportion includes majorities of residents of the province who voted for the BC New Democratic Party (NDP) (58%), the BC Liberals (53%) and the BC Greens (52%) in last year’s provincial election.
British Columbians are divided on whether the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made the right decision in staging the Summer Games in Tokyo earlier this year. Similar proportions of respondents agree (45%) or disagree (43%) with the course of action taken by the IOC.
Almost half of British Columbians (48%) have a positive opinion of the IOC, while more than a third (36%) hold negative views and 17% are not sure.Methodology:Results are based on an online study conducted from October 18 to October 20, 2021, among 800 adults in British Columbia. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Find our data tables here – download the release here.
