Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics has the support of some of the world's most famous people as Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps have each publicly backed the bid. Unfortunately for the bid's organizers, many of the city's residents don't feel the same way.

Of the four cities bidding for the Games, Chicago has the lowest amount of public support by a wide margin. According to recent polling, less than 50 percent of the city's residents support the city's proposal to host the Olympics. With the bid set to be announced in two days, the tepid enthusiasm from many of the city's residents threatens to derail the prospects of a Windy City Olympics.

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Those who don't support the bid cite financial concerns, corruption and transportation problems as the main reasons. It's the familiar refrain: "Why spend billions on games when schools need funding/roads need fixing/hospitals need money?" 

The "bread, not circuses" opposition is nothing new. No Olympic bid ever receives full public support, but the lack of collective enthusiasm in Chicago is deeply troubling for organizers of the bid for two reasons.

First, the opposition has been steadily increasing over the past few months. A February poll by the Chicago Tribune found 2-1 support for the Games. Now, less than half of the city is in favor of the bid (47 percent support vs. 45 percent against). There's been speculation that the drop is due to Mayor Richard Daley's April announcement that the city would take full financial support for the Games.

In contrast, support for Atlanta's bid stood at 80 percent before the Games and never dipped below that number in the six year lead-up to the Olympics. (When the Games ended, over 95 percent of the city expressed support.)

More importantly, Chicago's divide stands in sharp contrast to the overwhelming support the Games are getting in the city's main competition, Rio de Janiero. Polls in that city say that the Olympic bid is backed by more than 85 percent of citizens (some polls have it as high as 90 percent). 

Bid officials aren't allowed to badmouth other cities publicly (Chicago mayor Richard Daley has come under some fire in Rio for doing just that), but you can bet that organizers from the Brazil will be whispering these poll results as often as Chicagoans will be discussing the cancellation of a World Cup swimming event in the country.

In a vote that could be swayed by one or two IOC members, every little thing counts. For Chicago, the lack of widespread enthusiasm could be the difference between hosting the Games or not.

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