The new data shows public sentiment has shifted little since
the summer, when surveys in Japan also found only a minority backing plans to
hold the Games next year, despite the imminent arrival of new vaccines.
A poll released Tuesday by national broadcaster NHK found
just 27 percent of respondents support holding the Games next year, with 32
percent backing cancellation and 31 percent favouring a further postponement.
The remaining respondents said they were unsure or gave no
answer.
Olympic organisers and Japanese officials have ruled out any
further delay of the Games, which are the first in history to be postponed
during peacetime.
They have insisted Tokyo 2020 can be held even if the
pandemic is not under control by the new opening date of July 23, 2021.
But the Japanese public does not appear convinced.
A poll published on Monday by the Jiji press agency
similarly found 21 percent favouring a cancellation and nearly 30 percent a
further delay.
And a Kyodo news agency poll published December 6 also found
a total of 61.2 percent opposed to holding the Games next year.
The figure comes with just over seven months to go until the
postponed Games are scheduled to open.
The start of vaccination campaigns in some parts of the
world has boosted the confidence of organisers that the Games can go ahead,
though inoculation will not be mandatory for athletes or spectators.
But even as the vaccines are being rolled out, new waves of
the virus are surging in many places, including Japan, which has seen a comparatively
low toll from the outbreak, recording fewer than 2,600 deaths so far.
Postponing the Games and devising coronavirus
countermeasures has proved a logistical nightmare for organisers, and carries a
steep price tag.
The delay and health measures will add at least an extra
$2.4 billion to the existing $13 billion budget for the Games.
Organisers are due to release an updated budget later this
month, but their figures for the cost have been hotly disputed, with an audit
report last year estimating the national government spent nearly 10 times its
original budget between 2013-2018.
Organisers countered that the estimate included items not
directly related to the Games.
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