Nearly half of Edmontonians do not support a plan for the city to borrow cash to build and own a downtown arena, according to an exclusive CTV News/ACCESS poll.

The poll shows 55 per cent of those surveyed oppose the current plan that would see the City of Edmonton borrow funds to own the arena, nearly 23 per cent support the venture, and another 22 per cent were undecided.

Last month, the Katz Group revealed it wants the city to pay for and own the $400 million downtown arena.

City councillors say the poll findings agree with the feedback they've received from constituents -- most are not in favour of borrowing public cash to fund the arena.

"Mainly people don't want their public dollars -- their tax dollars used for a private project where they're not even sure what the project looks like," said Couns. Amarjeet Sohi.

But Mayor Stephen Mandel is largely dismissing the poll. He says Edmontonians still don't have enough information. 

"It doesn't say anything simply because there's nothing in front of people -- only the innuendos and the opinions they've heard through various sources of media."

The poll results come after the Katz Group has been busy promoting its vision for creating a new downtown arena complex.

In late Feb, Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz launched a website dishing out his ideas on how a downtown arena and entertainment district would benefit the people of Edmonton.

"I see an opportunity for Edmontonians to live, learn, work and play downtown," Katz says in an online video.

On Monday, the Katz Group issued a statement saying, "We have been very pleased by the support and encouragement we are getting from the across the community, and believe that support will only increase as more information becomes public."

It was also revealed in the poll that among those surveyed that identify themselves as 'season ticket holders', 45 per cent support city involvement in the arena project, while 41 per cent do not.

With files from Scott Roberts

The poll, done for CTV Edmonton and ACCESS by TeleResearch Inc., was conducted between March 2 and March 8, 2010, involving 550 adults from across the City of Edmonton. The margin of error is considered to be +/- 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.



Should the city of Edmonton build a new arena for the Oilers?
Yes
No
Uncertain


All Edmonton (N=550)


All
22.55%
55.45%
22.00%


Male
29.48%
52.99%
17.53%


Female
16.72%
57.53%
25.75%