Conducted for WBUR by

WBUR Boston Area Olympics Poll

Survey of 507 Registered Voters
Field Dates: January 13-15, 2015
I'm going to read you the names of several people and groups who are active in public affairs. After I
read each one please tell me if you have a generally favorable or generally unfavorable view of the
person. If you have never heard of the person or if you are undecided, please just say so. READ
FIRST NAME. How about READ NEXT NAME?
REPEAT QUESTION TEXT ONLY IF NECESSARY, PROBE IF RESPONDENT SAYS DONT KNOW.
Have you heard of READ NAME and are undecided about (him/her)? Or PAUSE have you never
heard of (him/her)?
Order rotated
Marty Walsh

Boston Region
City of Boston

The United States

Olympic Committee

Boston Region

The International
Olympic Committee

Boston Region

City of Boston
City of Boston

Favorable
68%
74%
45%
43%
35%
38%

Unfavorable
6%
6%
13%
12%
20%
20%

Heard of /
Undecided
21%
18%
36%
35%
40%
38%

Never
heard of
5%
1%
5%
9%
5%
4%

Refused
1%
<1%
1%
1%
<1%
1%

Overall, how would you rate the quality of life in the greater Boston area? Would you say it is
excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?

Excellent
Very good
Good
Fair
Poor
Dont Know / Refused

Boston
Area
17%
40%
29%
11%
3%
1%

City of
Boston
18%
31%
36%
10%
3%
1%

How closely, if at all, have you been following news about the U.S. Olympic Committee choosing a US
city to bid on the 2024 Summer Olympic Gamesvery closely, somewhat closely, not too closely, or
not at all?

Very closely
Somewhat closely
Not too closely
Not at all closely
Dont Know / Refused

Boston
Area
24%
45%
23%
7%
1%

City of
Boston
26%
45%
19%
8%
2%

As you may be aware, the US Olympic Committee was choosing between four U.S. cities to bid on the
2024 Summer Olympic Games. To the best of your knowledge, which city did they choose,
_________?Order rotated

Boston
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Washington DC
Dont Know / Refused

Boston
Area
85%
2%
1%
1%
11%

City of
Boston
85%
1%
0%
0%
14%

As you may be aware, Boston was chosen by the United States Olympic Committee to be the U.S. city
that will bid on the games. Do you support or oppose the idea of bringing the Olympic Games to the
Boston region in 2024?

Support
Oppose
Dont Know / Refused

Boston
Area
51%
33%
16%

City of
Boston
50%
33%
17%

Would you say you are excited about the prospect of the Boston area hosting the Olympic Games on
2024, or are you not excited?

Excited
Not excited
Dont Know / Refused

Boston
Area
50%
41%
10%

City of
Boston
48%
43%
9%

Which do you think is more likely, that READ FIRST, or that READ NEXT? Order rotated.

The games will be paid for with

private money
Taxpayer funds will be required to
pay for the games
Dont Know / Refused

Boston
Area

City of
Boston

29%

24%

53%

57%

18%

20%

If public funds are used to build Olympic stadiums and other venues, would this make you more
likely or less likely to support bringing the games to Boston, or would it make no difference?

More likely to support

Less likely to support
Would make no difference
Dont Know / Refused

WBUR Poll
Conducted by The MassINC Polling Group

Boston
Area
10%
44%
43%
4%

City of
Boston
13%
37%
45%
5%

How likely is it that the Boston region would be able to complete each of the following tasks related
to preparing for the Olympic Games?
Very
likely

Somewhat
likely

Not too
likely

Not at
all likely

Dont Know
/ Refused

Boston Area

25%

37%

21%

14%

3%

City of Boston

30%

27%

23%

16%

4%

Building the stadiums and

other venues needed to
host the games

Boston Area

37%

36%

14%

8%

4%

City of Boston

34%

40%

12%

10%

4%

Improving the roads in the

area to handle the traffic
from visitors and workers
during the games

Boston Area

26%

34%

22%

14%

4%

City of Boston

29%

29%

24%

14%

4%

Order rotated
Improving the MBTA to
handle hundreds of
thousands of visitors and
workers

Do you think that voters in Boston and other cities and towns that will host Olympic venues should
vote on whether or not they want to host the Olympic games, or not?

Yes, they should vote

No, they should not vote
Dont Know / Refused

WBUR Poll
Conducted by The MassINC Polling Group

Boston
Area
75%
18%
8%

City of
Boston
75%
16%
8%

Demographics
Race
White / Caucasian
All others
Dont Know / Refused

74%
21%
4%

18 to 29
30 to 44
45 to 59
60+

16%
25%
28%
31%

Male
Female

47%
53%

Age

Gender

About the Poll

These results are based on a survey of 507 registered voters living in the Boston area. For the
purposes of this poll, the Boston area was defined as communities inside Route 128 or which
straddle Route 128. The poll included a base sample of 407 residents in the entire area including
Boston, with an additional 100 voters living in the City of Boston. Between the base sample and
oversample, a total of 215 voters in the City of Boston were interviewed, which were weighted down
to the citys actual share of the areas total population of registered voters.
Interviews were conducted January 13-15, 2015 by live telephone interviews via both landline and
cell phone using conventional registration based sampling procedures. The margin of sampling error
for the full sample is +/- 4.9 percent with a 95 percent level of confidence, and 6.7 percent for the City
of Boston figures. The poll was sponsored by WBUR, a National Public Radio station in the Boston
area.
WBUR Poll
Conducted by The MassINC Polling Group