Calgarians are giving the thumbs up as thousands of protesters, delegates, police and media get set to descend on our city for next month's G-8 summit.
An exclusive Sun poll conducted by Insight Research & Consulting Corporation found nearly two-thirds of Calgarians think playing host to summit visitors is a great idea when asked if they were in support of it.
"The limitation of the question is that it's quite broad," said Marc Tremblay, managing director of Insight Research.
"People may be supporting or opposing for different reasons."
A total of 61% of Calgarians -- of 300 polled by phone May 13 to 15 -- supported having the summit in Kananaskis. Another 27% opposed the summit while 12% had no opinion.
In addition, males and university educated respondents were more likely to support the summit.
"What we found is that 69 percent of males were in support compared to 53 percent of females," said Tremblay.
The June 26-27 summit will join leaders from Canada, the U.S., France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia and Germany to discuss priorities of strengthening global economic growth, fighting terrorism and creating a partnership for African development.
Women surveyed were also found more likely to hold the belief that summit protesters will turn violent.
"We had 37 percent of females thinking (protests) will be violent compared to 25 percent of males," Tremblay said.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier said while Calgarians initially resisted having the summit nearby, they've grown to embrace it.
"It really reflects what Calgarians are all about," he said.
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