The vast majority of Canberrans want the ACT government to restrict how shops can market junk food to children.
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Yet only a third of residents say the marketing of unhealthy food is a significant problem and, surprisingly, parents who live with their children are less concerned than others.
The research, carried out by Newspoll for ACT Health, also asked Canberrans what supermarkets should do to cut children's intake of junk food and unhealthy drinks.
The ideas with the most support included pricing policies that made healthy food relatively cheaper (54 per cent), confectionery-free checkouts (49 per cent) and better in-store advertising of healthier choices (46 per cent).
The Newspoll report, accessed under freedom of information law, says women are significantly more concerned about the marketing of junk food than men, while older Canberrans are more worried than younger people.
However, there is strong desire across the ACT for the government to take action.
More than four in five Canberrans want new restrictions on supermarkets and other stores on how they can market unhealthy food, while more than nine in 10 back efforts to encourage shops to reduce advertising near schools.
In 2013, the ACT's then health minister, Katy Gallagher, released a discussion paper that canvassed policies such as junk food-free checkouts and tighter regulation of the sale of sugary drinks.
The former minister, now a Labor senator, said at the time that the issue was very challenging. "Sugary drinks are one of the biggest contributors to children being overweight. We can't pretend it's not a problem."
The government has since banned the sale of soft drinks and fruit juice in ACT schools, though most of the other proposals in the discussion paper have not been adopted.
About one in four Canberra children aged five to 17 are overweight or obese, a proportion that is similar to the rest of the country.
The lobby group for supermarkets and food manufacturers, the Australian Food & Grocery Council, says it has a voluntary code for its members, which commits them to advertising only healthier foods directly to children.
The code also tells members not to advertise their products in schools unless the schools ask them to.
