LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A poll released by the Utah Sports Commission Tuesday showed that 89 percent of Utahns are in favor of welcoming the Olympics back to the Beehive State for a second time after the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002.
The poll was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates and surveyed 600 residents across the state from Nov. 14 to 21, and has a margin of error of 4 points, according to the release.
The result comes a day after the recently formed Olympic Exploratory Committee (OEC) held its first official board meeting Monday evening at the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office, when the members heard an upbeat report on Utah's chances of winning another Olympic Winter Games.
"It sends a message we are ready, willing and able," Jeff Robbins, Utah Sports Commission President and CEO, also a leader of OEC, told local KSL news channel.
He said he believed that there would likely be even more backing from local residents for a new bid if a poll were to be conducted during the 2018 Olympic Winter Games which was scheduled to be held in PyeongChang, South Korea from Feb. 9 next year.
According to the regulation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who launched the bid process for 2026 Olympic Winter Games in September, the application deadline for the Games is March 31 of 2018 with the final selection scheduled for September 2019.
The United States Olympic Committee has voiced its hopes of submitting a bid for an upcoming Winter Olympics, which very likely would include 2026 or 2030. Besides Salt Lake City, Reno-Tahoe in Nevada and Denver have both showed interest in bidding for the Games.
Sion in Switzerland and Calgary in Canada are other potential bidders, along with Almaty in Kazakhstan, Stockholm in Sweden and Sapporo in Japan.
