The vast majority of Angelenos support efforts to bring the Olympic Games here in 2024, according to a survey conducted by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.
In the survey, 85 percent of those who responded said they supported the city’s bid for the 2024 summer games – more than the 81 percent who said they backed the plan in an August 2015 survey conducted by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
“Not only does every demographic and geographic group support the Summer Olympics potentially returning to Los Angeles, but they do so in tremendous numbers,” said Brianne Gilbert, associate director of the Center. “It’s hard to think of anything else that 80 percent of Los Angeles agrees with across every category.”
The survey was conducted by telephone between Jan. 4 and Feb. 13 as part of Forecast LA, an innovative annual event that combines an economic forecast with a public opinion poll designed to provide context for the state of the Los Angeles economy and perceptions of the public on social and civic trends.
Among those who supported the Olympics’ return, nearly half said they believed the games would provide an economic boost or create local jobs. Opponents’ top concerns were the cost of hosting the events and a potential increase in traffic.
“The concerns expressed by those who oppose L.A.’s bid are the same we’ve heard publicly about potential drawbacks to hosting,” said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center and a political science professor at LMU. “The increasing level of support shown in our survey suggests the organizing committee has made strides in addressing those issues.”
On the heels of the survey results, three members of the LA24 committee will be speaking at LMU tonight in a lecture series for political science students. They are: John Harper, the committee’s chief operating officer; Jeff Millman, its chief communications officer; and Anita DeFrantz, the president of the 1984 committee and a senior advisor to the current committee.
In addition to Los Angeles, which hosted the games in 1932 and 1984, the International Olympic Committee is weighing bids from Paris, Rome, and Budapest. The IOC will choose which city will host the 2024 games in September 2017.
