Olympic poll hits New York bid hope

New York's campaign for the 2012 Olympics was severely damaged today by a calamitous showing in a key poll on public support.

Standard Sport can reveal that the International Olympic Committee's secret independent poll shows just 59% support among New Yorkers for the Games in the Big Apple.

The survey, due to be published in the IOC's evaluation commission report in May, also found that just 54% of people across America support the campaign.

The lack of popularity has caused surprise at the IOC, especially since the results are well behind polls for the other four cities, ahead of July's vote.

London has the backing of 68% of Londoners and 70% of Britain, says IOC research. Paris and Madrid are believed to have much bigger popularity ratings in the IOC polls at the end of last year.

New York will struggle to recover and the campaign is looking like a two-horse race between London and Paris.