straw poll

English

Etymology

It may allude to a straw (thin plant stalk) held up to see in what direction the wind blows: in this case, the metaphorical wind of group opinion.

Pronunciation

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Noun

straw poll (plural straw polls)

1. (idiomatic) A survey of opinion or a vote that is nonbinding, unofficial, casual, or ad hoc.
   • 2002: I don't think it was innocence that made me want to carry out a straw poll of women friends on the plausibility of this passage — James Meek in London Review of Books, Vol. 24 No. 22, 14 November 2002

Synonyms

• straw ballot
• straw vote

Translations

unofficial survey of opinion

• Finnish: pikakysely
• German: unverbindliche Abstimmung, Probeabstimmung (de) f, inoffizielle Umfrage f, Meinungsbild (de) n, Probeumfrage f, Blitzumfrage f
• Irish: suirbhé samplála m
• Spanish: encuesta (es) f, sondeo (es) m