straw vote
1
5.5
- noun
- /strɔː voʊt/
:
voto de opinión
- After the discussion, the group decided to take a straw vote on the proposed changes.
Examples
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Under the leadership of David Nacht, the previous Chair of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, AATA has been working toward this goal since the board took a straw vote in May 2008 to become a regional authority.
Blog text (18) -
Every straw vote... ...every independent poll shows that I will be elected.
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In a few minutes, we're gonna go back in there, we're gonna take a quick straw vote, which is gonna find in favor of the experts' recommendations.
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Oh, I live in a white-white conservative world here, so I found it most amazing that the young ones in a local high school gave a large majority of their straw votes to the black man with strange ideas.
Blog text (3) -
In October 1924, a nationwide straw vote among college students showed them to be "overwhelmingly conservative."
Academic text (1994) -
The appellate court also stated that the poll of the membership at large was simply a "straw vote" conducted by the deacons.
Academic text (1999) -
The committee held a straw vote to see which candidate was favored by most members.
-
During the meeting, they conducted a quick straw vote to gauge support for the new policy.
Synonyms
43
2.5
A survey that asks a group of people what they think about a topic
18
4.4
A quick not official vote that shows what people think
17
3.1
A survey that asks a group of people who represent the public about their views on an issue
Surface Forms
Morphology
straw + vote
The sense 'an unofficial poll' cannot be derived by a B1 learner from the literal meaning of 'straw' (dried stalks) plus 'vote' — 'straw' does not transparently convey 'informal' or 'test of opinion'. This is an idiomatic/metaphorical use (cf. 'straw in the wind') that is not compositionally predictable and is unlikely to be obvious cross-linguistically, so learners will not reliably infer the meaning from the parts.
Etymology
Straw vote comes from the image of a single straw showing which way the wind blows. That's why a quick, unofficial vote to check what people think is called a straw vote.