View synonyms for straw vote

straw vote

noun

an unofficial vote taken to obtain an indication of the general trend of opinion on a particular issue.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of straw vote¹

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, straw poll . An unofficial vote or poll indicating how people feel about a candidate or issue. For example, Let's take a straw poll on the bill and see how it fares . This idiom alludes to a straw used to show in what direction the wind blows, in this case the wind of public opinion. O. Henry joked about it in A Ruler of Men (1907): “A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows.” [c. 1885]

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Example Sentences

Then he caused a straw-vote to be taken among a selected list of thousands of his subscribers in large cities and in small towns.

From Project Gutenberg

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

straw that breaks the camel's back strawweight

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