• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
QuestionPro

QuestionPro

questionpro logo
  • Products
    survey software iconSurvey softwareEasy to use and accessible for everyone. Design, send and analyze online surveys.research edition iconResearch SuiteA suite of enterprise-grade research tools for market research professionals.CX iconCustomer ExperienceExperiences change the world. Deliver the best with our CX management software.WF iconEmployee ExperienceCreate the best employee experience and act on real-time data from end to end.
  • Solutions
    IndustriesGamingAutomotiveSports and eventsEducationGovernment
    Travel & HospitalityFinancial ServicesHealthcareCannabisTechnology
    Use CaseAskWhyCommunitiesAudienceContactless surveysMobile
    LivePollsMember ExperienceGDPRPositive People Science360 Feedback Surveys
  • Resources
    BlogeBooksSurvey TemplatesCase StudiesTrainingHelp center
  • Features
  • Pricing
Language
  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Português (Portuguese (Brazil))
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Hebrew IL (Hebrew)
  • ไทย (Thai)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • Portuguese de Portugal (Portuguese (Portugal))
Call Us
+1 800 531 0228 +1 (647) 956-1242 +52 999 402 4079 +49 301 663 5782 +44 20 3650 3166 +81-3-6869-1954 +61 2 8074 5080 +971 529 852 540
Log In Log In
SIGN UP FREE

Home Surveys

Straw Poll: What is it & How to Create a Straw Poll

A straw poll is used to know public opinion. It helps politicians understand what most people think and decide what to say to gain votes

While there are many ways to learn more about people’s opinions, preferences, and feedback, such as online surveys, communities, focus groups, and more, polls offer a great way to measure public sentiment. There are different types of polls, such as benchmark polls, exit polls, push polls, rating polls, etc. Today we’ll talk about one of the most commonly used opinion polls: The straw poll. A straw poll can be a scientific or unscientific poll questions depending on the selection of the sample audience.

We can broadly categorize these polls as “scientific” polls and “unscientific” polls. Scientific polls happen in a controlled environment with a randomly selected sample audience. It represents the demographic distribution of the population and is carefully curated to ensure data accuracy. On the other hand, unscientific polls are conducted without any control over the selection of the sample audience.

What is meant by a straw poll question or a straw poll?

A straw poll, also known as a straw or straw ballot, is an informal vote, sometimes conducted on an ad-hoc basis. Usually, it is used by politicians to gain insights into public opinion on a specific subject. Based on the results, they decide what political stand they should take and say regarding the matter. They devise their strategy accordingly to get the maximum number of votes.

In the world of market research, a straw poll is conducted to understand the experience of the target audience. Straw polls help organizations get a quick pulse check of the situation. They can use it to gauge employee satisfaction or customer experience. Universities can use straw polls to determine whether the students liked the course and faculty. Based on the results, they can tweak the course content or pass on the feedback to the faculty.

Straw polls used to be conducted over the telephone, but with the use of technology, they are conducted online. You can answer the question only once and submit your vote. However, many online survey tools let you create multiple-choice questions or an open-ended textbox, depending on the topic.

Read more: Poll vs Survey

Example of a straw poll

Consider the question below that tries to know what people think about the U.S.’s international policies. It helps understand the public’s perception of the government policies and the likely impact on upcoming elections. This example straw poll question can help leaders to know if their decisions will be well-accepted and whether they can stay popular among the people.

Straw Poll Example

In the above sample online straw question, the poll maker tries to get insights into people’s perceptions of the President of the United States. Although it doesn’t give insights into the ‘why’ behind their answers, it is a quick method to gauge public sentiment. You can ask one or two follow-up questions to understand the reasons behind their vote.

How to create a straw poll with QuestionPro?

Choose a sample audience that represents the demographic distribution of your target market. Next, sign up for an online poll creator tool that lets you easily create and distribute straw polls. Customize the look and feel of your poll to increase its credibility and get the maximum number of responses. Make sure your online straw poll is accessible for respondents with different needs.

QuestionPro offers a wide range of customization options, including color, button text, the width of the display window, etc. You can preview the question before going live on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You can also embed the HTML text on your website and analyze the results in the application.

To ensure data accuracy and valid votes, you can configure the application to accept one vote only per IP address. You can also choose whether to show the results after voting or not. The real-time dashboard lets you view the performance of your straw poll along with participant statistics. You can download the responses or export them in standard formats.

Advantages of Creating a Straw Poll

Offer a dialogue: A straw poll quiz creates a communication channel between different sections of society. It encourages a dialogue between authorities and people on subjects they would otherwise not hold direct discussions. It helps to determine the scope of further meetings between the concerned parties.

Identify public sentiment: Quick impromptu polls like a straw vote help to gauge public emotions and opinion. Making decisions based on public sentiment increase the chances of success and acceptance of the government institutions or regulatory authorities. 

Quick results: It hardly takes a few minutes to create a spontaneous straw poll question. If you want to collect from a large group of people, online straw polls really come in handy. The respondents don’t need to spend much time answering the poll survey. 

Real-time insights: As the straw poll survey contains only one question, it is quick to answer and analyze the results. You can view the interim results while the poll is midway through or analyze the final results once everyone is interviewed. The utility of the insights generated depends on the gravity of the subject. At times, it may not be wise to consider the interim results as it does not reflect the opinions of the complete set of audience members. 

Data accuracy: You can trust the data accuracy as far as the respondents’ honesty is concerned. There is no survey fatigue, so people tend to give real answers. Also, if the audience does not represent the demographic distribution, it might present a false picture, thus creating a selection bias. Hence, depending on the sample distribution and topic, you can gain accurate insights into public opinion.

Conclusion

Though straw polls might be considered unscientific, given their random and spontaneous nature, you can improve their usability by asking screening questions related to identity. We suggest creating a free account and exploring the tool to have a better idea. Our Essentials account is free for a lifetime and does not require a credit card. You can create any number of surveys and polls.

       

SHARE THIS ARTICLE:

About the author
Radhika Makhecha
Corporate Branding and Digital Marketing Senior Manager at QuestionPro. With over 13 years of experience in digital marketing and software development.
View all posts by Radhika Makhecha

Primary Sidebar

Gain insights with 80+ features for free

Create, Send and Analyze Your Online Survey in under 5 mins!

Create a Free Account

RELATED ARTICLES

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

10 Key Customer Engagement Metrics to Measure in 2025

Feb 09,2023

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

Research Hypothesis: What It Is, Types + How to Develop?

Nov 16,2023

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

Data Fabric: What it Is, Tips, & Best Practices

Nov 04,2022

BROWSE BY CATEGORY

  • Academic
  • Academic Research
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assessments
  • Audience
  • Brand Awareness
  • Business
  • Case Studies
  • Communities
  • Consumer Insights
  • Customer effort score
  • Customer Engagement
  • Customer Experience
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Research
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • CX
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Retention
  • Enterprise
  • Events
  • Forms
  • Friday Five
  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Guest Post
  • Insights Hub
  • Life@QuestionPro
  • LivePolls
  • Market Research
  • Marketing
  • Mobile
  • Mobile App
  • Mobile diaries
  • Mobile Surveys
  • New Features
  • non-profit
  • NPS
  • Online Communities
  • Polls
  • Question Types
  • Questionnaire
  • QuestionPro
  • QuestionPro Products
  • Release Notes
  • Research Tools and Apps
  • Revenue at Risk
  • Startups
  • Survey Templates
  • Surveys
  • Tech News
  • Tips
  • Training
  • Training Tips
  • Trending
  • Tuesday CX Thoughts (TCXT)
  • Uncategorized
  • VOC
  • Webinar
  • Webinars
  • What’s Coming Up
  • Workforce
  • Workforce Intelligence

Footer

MORE LIKE THIS

ken tcxt

Experience – What’s Included? | Tuesday CX Toughts

May 20, 2025

artificial-data

What is Artificial Data & How It’s Shaping Research

May 20, 2025

wells-fargo-nps-2025

Wells Fargo NPS 2025: What Businesses Can Learn

May 19, 2025

word-cloud

Word Cloud: What it is & How to Use QuestionPro Word Cloud?

May 16, 2025

Other categories

  • Academic
  • Academic Research
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assessments
  • Audience
  • Brand Awareness
  • Business
  • Case Studies
  • Communities
  • Consumer Insights
  • Customer effort score
  • Customer Engagement
  • Customer Experience
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Research
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • CX
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Retention
  • Enterprise
  • Events
  • Forms
  • Friday Five
  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Guest Post
  • Insights Hub
  • Life@QuestionPro
  • LivePolls
  • Market Research
  • Marketing
  • Mobile
  • Mobile App
  • Mobile diaries
  • Mobile Surveys
  • New Features
  • non-profit
  • NPS
  • Online Communities
  • Polls
  • Question Types
  • Questionnaire
  • QuestionPro
  • QuestionPro Products
  • Release Notes
  • Research Tools and Apps
  • Revenue at Risk
  • Startups
  • Survey Templates
  • Surveys
  • Tech News
  • Tips
  • Training
  • Training Tips
  • Trending
  • Tuesday CX Thoughts (TCXT)
  • Uncategorized
  • VOC
  • Webinar
  • Webinars
  • What’s Coming Up
  • Workforce
  • Workforce Intelligence

questionpro-logo-nw
Help center Live Chat SIGN UP FREE
  • Sample questions
  • Sample reports
  • Survey logic
  • Branding
  • Integrations
  • Professional services
  • Security
  • Survey Software
  • Customer Experience
  • Workforce
  • Communities
  • Audience
  • Polls Explore the QuestionPro Poll Software - The World's leading Online Poll Maker & Creator. Create online polls, distribute them using email and multiple other options and start analyzing poll results.
  • Research Edition
  • LivePolls
  • InsightsHub
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • eBooks
  • Survey Templates
  • Case Studies
  • Training
  • Webinars
  • All Plans
  • Nonprofit
  • Academic
  • Qualtrics Alternative Explore the list of features that QuestionPro has compared to Qualtrics and learn how you can get more, for less.
  • SurveyMonkey Alternative
  • VisionCritical Alternative
  • Medallia Alternative
  • Likert Scale Complete Likert Scale Questions, Examples and Surveys for 5, 7 and 9 point scales. Learn everything about Likert Scale with corresponding example for each question and survey demonstrations.
  • Conjoint Analysis
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) Learn everything about Net Promoter Score (NPS) and the Net Promoter Question. Get a clear view on the universal Net Promoter Score Formula, how to undertake Net Promoter Score Calculation followed by a simple Net Promoter Score Example.
  • Offline Surveys
  • Customer Satisfaction Surveys
  • Employee Survey Software Employee survey software & tool to create, send and analyze employee surveys. Get real-time analysis for employee satisfaction, engagement, work culture and map your employee experience from onboarding to exit!
  • Market Research Survey Software Real-time, automated and advanced market research survey software & tool to create surveys, collect data and analyze results for actionable market insights.
  • GDPR & EU Compliance
  • Employee Experience
  • Customer Journey
  • Synthetic Data
  • About us
  • Executive Team
  • In the news
  • Testimonials
  • Advisory Board
  • Careers
  • Brand
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us

QuestionPro in your language

  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Português (Portuguese (Brazil))
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Hebrew IL (Hebrew)
  • ไทย (Thai)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • Portuguese de Portugal (Portuguese (Portugal))

Awards & certificates

  • survey-leader-asia-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-asiapacific-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-enterprise-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-europe-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-latinamerica-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-middleeast-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-mid-market-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-small-business-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-unitedkingdom-leader-2023
  • survey-momentumleader-leader-2023
  • bbb-acredited
The Experience Journal

Find innovative ideas about Experience Management from the experts

  • © 2022 QuestionPro Survey Software | +1 (800) 531 0228
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use