A poll released yesterday found that while New Yorkers overwhelmingly support the city’s efforts to attract the 2012 Olympics, a majority remain opposed to building the $1.7 billion stadium necessary to lure the Summer Games.

The poll of New York voters, conducted by Quinnipiac University, also showed they wanted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to get the highest price possible for the site above the rail yards on Manhattan’s West Side.

“Voters, many of whom are straphangers, want the agency that operates their subways and buses to get all the money it can,” said the director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, Maurice Carroll.

TransGas Energy Systems LLC, an energy company, made a $700 million bid for the site two weeks ago, topping the $600 million offer made by Madison Square Garden. The New York Jets, the early front-runner for the site and the proposed prime tenant, offered $100 million for the development rights.

Asked if they supported the construction of a new stadium, 56% of New Yorkers said no, the survey showed. Another 35% supported the stadium, while the rest offered no opinion.

In Manhattan, where the stadium would rise above the Hudson River, 64% opposed the project while 27% supported it. Yet when asked about hosting the Summer Games, 63% said yes and just 30% said no.

The numbers are contradictory, since Mayor Bloomberg and International Olympic Committee representatives have said the stadium is central to any successful proposal for the 2012 Olympics.

The poll was released one week after the IOC’s evaluation commission finished its four-day stay in New York and one day after Jets President Jay Cross announced the team had no intention of building a new stadium anywhere but on the West Side above the rail yards.

“We believe such a facility will best serve the interests of all New Yorkers and our team, and we have long since ruled out any other location,” Mr. Cross said.