Meanings
plural straw polls
- idiomaticA 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
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA survey of opinion or a vote that is nonbinding, unofficial, casual, or ad hoc.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan unofficial vote taken to determine opinion on some issue
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
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.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish pikakysely
- pikakyselyunofficial survey of opinion
German unverbindliche Abstimmung, Probeabstimmung
- unverbindliche Abstimmungunofficial survey of opinion
- Probeabstimmungunofficial survey of opinion
- inoffizielle Umfrageunofficial survey of opinion
- Meinungsbildunofficial survey of opinion
- Probeumfrageunofficial survey of opinion
- Blitzumfrageunofficial survey of opinion
Irish suirbhé samplála
- suirbhé samplálaunofficial survey of opinion
Polish sondaż orientacyjny
- sondaż orientacyjnyunofficial survey of opinion
Spanish encuesta, sondeo
- encuestaunofficial survey of opinion
- sondeounofficial survey of opinion
Cite this entry
straw poll. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straw%20poll
“straw poll.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straw%20poll. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “straw poll,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straw%20poll.
Source: straw poll on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.