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In this image released by Warner Bros. Pictures, Bradley Cooper appears in a scene from "American Sniper." (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Keith Bernstein) Image Credit: AP

If ordinary Americans voted for the Academy Awards, American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s portrait of a sniper in the Iraq war, would be the best picture winner, according to the annual Reuters/Ipsos Oscars poll.

The film starring Bradley Cooper as the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle was cited by 22 per cent of respondents as the movie that should win the top Oscar among the eight nominees, according to an online survey of Americans conducted on January 16-23.

The Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma was the second most popular choice with eight per cent.

Boyhood, the coming-of-age story filmed over 12 years with the same actors and a favourite to win best picture, was third in the survey with four per cent.

Nearly half, or 48 per cent, said they were unsure which film should win best picture.

Both American Sniper and Selma have been the subject of controversy in recent weeks.

The Eastwood-directed film, currently No. 1 at the North American box office, has become a flashpoint of debate between liberals and conservatives over the morality of war and the role of snipers.

Selma drew criticism from some historians for what they said was a misleading portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s role in the fight for voting rights for blacks.

Selma was also at the centre of the upheaval over the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations announced last week, which excluded the film’s African-American female director and lead actor.

The survey revealed, however, that many people have not seen the year’s top films and Oscar contenders.

The film seen most by those surveyed was Gone Girl, the film adaptation of the best-selling thriller that did not receive a best picture nomination. Twelve per cent have seen that film.

American Sniper and musical Into the Woods, were the second most seen at nine per cent each.

The two films that lead all Academy Awards nominees with nine nods a piece, the whimsical caper The Grand Budapest Hotel and the dark satire Birdman, have been seen by eight per cent and four per cent, respectively.

A full 65 per cent of respondents had not seen any of the 15 films cited in the survey.

The Oscars, to be presented at a ceremony on February 22, will be voted on by the 6,100 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 2,385 Americans online and has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.