A poll, which surveyed nearly 2,800 adults, found that 42% people believed that London should not have bid for the games.
Conversely, 44% of those surveyed thought London was right to bid for the Olympics.
Four out of 10 said they were interested in the London Olympics, which are now just a year away.
Across all Olympic sports, athletics was the most popular sport, with 68% of respondents choosing it as one of their top-five sports.
Asked which sport should be added to the Olympics in the future, squash proved to be the most popular, with 29% thinking it should be included.
The national poll, undertaken by YouGov, surveyed 2,783 British adults.
However, London organisers will not be too depressed by the results, as a similar poll ahead of this year’s Royal Wedding unearthed a wave of anti-wedding sentiment.
But the wedding proved popular with many people.
Joe Twyman, director of political and social research at YouGov, said: "Although some people still need to be convinced about the London Olympics, with a year to go, the benefits to London are recognised by a majority of people and, as we saw with the Royal Wedding, interest across the nation is likely to increase as we get closer to the event itself."
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