The news comes within hours of the scheduled official announcement of the Paris bid to host the 2012 Games with the French thought to be London's closest challenger in the bidding process.
The recent poll by Sports Marketing Surveys Online, revealed that 50 percent of sports fans were backing bids from either Paris or London making these two cities clear 'front runners'. The respondents from France and UK were excluded from these votes.
However London does appear to have the edge in these initial stages with 26 percent of the overall vote whereas Paris achieved 23 percent.
Madrid and New York are the two next most popular choices as host cities at this time.
Unsurprisingly, the survey, which is based on responses from 1,400 sports fans on the Sports Marketing Surveys Online global panel, indicates that nationalistic sentiment can be linked closely to city choices.
For example, 78 percent of French respondents selected Paris, 70 percent of the British choosing London with the Spanish the most patriotic, 100 percent opting for Madrid.
The Americans appeared much less keen to stage the event on their home soil with only 36 percent choosing New York and London being their second choice at 28 percent. Only 5 percent of Americans supported the bid from Paris.
An announcement on the winning bid is not expected from the International Olympic Committee until 2005.
