Straw polls for the 2008 United States presidential election

The following sections collect local-event-based public straw polls where American voters selected among Democratic, Republican, and other appropriate candidates for the 2008 presidential election. The largest was the Ames Straw Poll held in Iowa on August 11 2007, won by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; other notable polls included the Texas Straw Poll of September 1 2007, won by Congressman Duncan Hunter. This article separately lists a collection of polls conducted on the honor system, in which ordinary controls are absent; such polls are often conducted wholly over the Internet, over a period of months, or with interim results publicized before close.

In event-based polls, like the election itself, public response is generally widely solicited for a particular event or registration process; the sample represents only willing, eligible people who become aware of the process through advertising and choose to enter, and sometimes an event fee is paid. By contrast, in demographic polls (such as opinion polls for the Democratic and Republican candidates), through a private random selection process, a subset of the target public is chosen as statistically representative, and individual responses are solicited, generally by phone; the sample represents only willing, eligible people from a statistical cross-section of the voter base. Demographic polls are regarded as more statistically accurate pictures of public opinion, while straw polls provide important interactive dialogue among movements, reflecting trends like organization and motivation. [cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21209617|title=Vote on the Michigan Republican debate|publisher=MSNBC|accessdate=2008-01-10] [cite web|first=John|last=Harwood|url=http://www.cnbc.com/id/21270546|title=My Open Letter To Ron Paul Supporters|date=2007-10-12|accessdate=2008-01-10|publisher=CNBC]

Democratic polls

Republican polls

Honor-system polls

Supplementary, not comprehensive. [cite web|url=http://www.usastrawpolls.com/debates/2008-republican-presidential-debate-polls.html|title=2008 Republican Debate Polls - Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani]

References

ee also

* Republican Party (United States)
* Democratic Party (United States)