The Iowa Straw Poll (also known as the Ames Straw Poll) was a presidential straw poll and fundraising event for the Republican Party of Iowa. It was held six times, traditionally in late summer approximately six months in advance of contested presidential Iowa caucuses, from 1979 until 2011, on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames.

The event attracted both praise and criticism, with supporters noting that it raised funds for the Republican Party of Iowa and winnowed large fields of presidential candidates. Critics asserted that it catered to extremist candidates and put a financial squeeze on campaigns. The poll itself held a mixed record as a bellwether for either the Iowa caucuses or the GOP nomination; on three occasions (George H. W. Bush in '79, Bob Dole in '95, and George W. Bush in '99) the winner of the straw poll also won the Iowa caucuses the next year, but only twice ('95 and '99) did these candidates win the GOP nomination. Only one winner of the straw poll, George W. Bush, won the presidency.

On June 12, 2015, the Republican Party of Iowa announced that the straw poll would no longer be held. A similar poll (also at times referred to as the Iowa Straw Poll) has been conducted at the Iowa State Fair since 2015.

Format The poll took place among attendees of a fundraising dinner benefiting the Iowa Republican Party. Before the vote, each candidate was given an opportunity to make a short speech to the attendees.

The poll has been described as a cross between a political convention and a county fair, where Iowa voters had a chance to mingle, eat barbecue and have a little fun. The party divided the venue into sections and auctioned each to the candidates, who could then set up booths to present their case to the voters. The larger areas and those closest to the entrance tended to fetch the highest price. In 2011 bidding started at $15,000 and ranged to as high as $31,000 (bid by Ron Paul).

Non-Republicans were allowed to vote in the Iowa Straw Poll. However, for the later years of the poll, all voters were required to be at least 16 1/2 years of age, be a legal resident of Iowa or a student attending an Iowa university or college, and purchase a ticket, although some campaigns paid the fee for their supporters. Voters had their hands stamped or their thumbs dipped in ink when entering the voting area so that they could not vote twice. Ballots were put into electronic voting machines.

Significance As a straw poll, the Iowa Straw Poll's results were non-binding and had no official effect on the presidential primaries. However, the straw poll was frequently seen as a first test of organizational strength in Iowa by the news media and party insiders. As such, it could be beneficial for the winning candidate on the national level because it built momentum for their campaign, enhanced their aura of inevitability, or showed off a superior field operation.

Nevertheless, in the six times the poll was held, the winner of the Iowa Straw Poll went on to win the Iowa caucuses only three times for that same election cycle. The winner of the straw poll won the Republican presidential nomination twice for that same election cycle. Two additional winners of the straw poll (George H. W. Bush and Mitt Romney) won the Republican nomination, but not in the same election cycle that they won the straw poll. Usually the winner or the second-place finisher in the straw poll went on to win the Iowa caucuses, although in 2011, Rick Santorum placed fourth in the straw poll before winning the caucuses the following January.

On a more local level, the Iowa Straw Poll gave a major boost to the local economy. Thousands of people, including journalists, campaign staffers, and voters, arrived in town each election cycle around the time of the poll. The Iowa Straw Poll was one of the Iowa Republican Party's most lucrative fundraising events.

In fall 2020, one Republican pundit compared the upcoming Georgia and Senate runoffs to this event: "It'll be like Iowa during the straw poll era. A modern-day Ames in the Peach State."

Criticisms In its early years, the Iowa Straw Poll was criticized for having many voters who were not residents of Iowa. Candidates would bus in supporters from other states. However, beginning with the 1999 Iowa Straw Poll, all voters were required to show proof of legal residence in Iowa. Before the 1999 Iowa Straw Poll, cheating was perceived to be widespread: many individuals managed to vote repeatedly by visiting the bathroom and washing off the stamp on the back of their hand which indicated they had voted. Beginning with the 1999 Iowa Straw Poll, the ink used for hand-stamping was changed to one that resisted being washed off. In 2007, instead of hand-stamping, thumbs were dipped in indelible ink.

In 2007, the Iowa Straw Poll was criticized for having only 14,302 voters participating, compared to about 23,000 voters eight years earlier in the 1999 polls, and for failing to have three of the four leading candidates participate in the poll, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson. Consequently, the votes received by Mitt Romney and second-place finisher Mike Huckabee failed to demonstrate the consequence of full competition among all candidates. The poll was criticized for heavily favoring better-funded candidates, as better-funded candidates were able to afford transportation costs to bus in more supporters and to reimburse those supporters for meal tickets.

In 2012, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said "I think the straw poll has outlived its usefulness" and "It has been a great fundraiser for the party but I think its days are over." Iowa governor: Straw poll 'outlived usefulness' USA Today. November 21, 2102. The party eventually decided to cancel the 2015 contest and all future contests on June 12, 2015; several high-profile candidates had indicated they would not participate in that year's poll, and the party stated that the poll was causing a distraction from the state's official caucus several months after the straw poll.

Results Summary of results Date Associated primaries and/or elections Winner of Iowa Straw Poll Winner of Iowa Caucus Winner of Republican primaries Winner of presidential election Price of a dinner ticket 1980 Republican primaries1980 presidential election George H. W. Bush George H. W. Bush Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan 1988 Republican primaries1988 presidential election Pat Robertson Bob Dole George H. W. Bush George H. W. Bush 1996 Republican primaries1996 presidential election Bob Dole, Phil Gramm (tie) Bob Dole Bob Dole Bill Clinton 2000 Republican primaries2000 presidential election George W. Bush George W. Bush George W. Bush George W. Bush $25 2008 Republican primaries2008 presidential election Mitt Romney Mike Huckabee John McCain Barack Obama $35 2012 Republican primaries2012 presidential election Michele Bachmann Rick Santorum Mitt Romney Barack Obama $30

Detailed results 1979 George H. W. Bush won the first Iowa Straw Poll, which had low voter turnout, as well as the caucus itself, but Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination.

1987 Source of results: Iowa Republican Party

Place Candidate Votes Percentage 1 Pat Robertson 1,293 33.6% 2 Bob Dole 958 24.9% 3 George H. W. Bush 864 22.5% 4 Jack Kemp 520 13.5% 5 Pete duPont 160 4.2% 6 Alan Heslop 13 0.3% 7 Alexander Haig 12 0.3% 8 Ben Fernandez 8 0.2% 9 Others 15 0.4% Total 3,843 100%

Pat Robertson won the 1987 Iowa Straw Poll. Despite finishing second in the Iowa Straw Poll, Bob Dole won the Iowa Caucus. Despite finishing third in the Iowa Straw Poll, George H. W. Bush won the Republican nomination and the presidency.

1995 Source of results: Iowa Republican Party

Place Candidate Votes Percentage 1 (tie) Phil Gramm 2,582 24.4% 1 (tie) Bob Dole 2,582 24.4% 3 Pat Buchanan 1,922 18.1% 4 Lamar Alexander 1,156 10.9% 5 Alan Keyes 804 7.6% 6 Morry Taylor 803 7.6% 7 Richard Lugar 466 4.4% 8 Pete Wilson 129 1.2% 9 Bob Dornan 87 0.8% 10 Arlen Specter 67 0.6% Total 10,958 100%

10,958 voters participated in the 1995 Iowa Straw Poll. Bob Dole and Phil Gramm won with a tie. Bob Dole won the Republican nomination.

1999 Sources of results: Iowa Republican Party, PBS

Place Candidate Votes Percentage 1 George W. Bush 7,418 31.3% 2 Steve Forbes 4,921 20.8% 3 Elizabeth Dole 3,410 14.4% 4 Gary Bauer 2,114 8.9% 5 Patrick Buchanan 1,719 7.3% 6 Lamar Alexander 1,428 6.0% 7 Alan Keyes 1,101 4.6% 8 Dan Quayle 916 3.9% 9 Orrin Hatch 558 2.4% 10 John McCain 83 0.4% 11 John Kasich 9 0.04% 12 Bob Smith 8 0.03% Total 23,685 100%

A record 23,685 voters participated in the 1999 Iowa Straw Poll, held at the Hilton Coliseum. George W. Bush was cemented as the frontrunner by the results of the Iowa Straw Poll and eventually went on to win the Iowa caucuses; Steve Forbes, who had committed a fair amount of cash to winning the poll, was embarrassed by his second-place showing. Elizabeth Dole, who had spent comparably less, considered her third-place finish a boost to her flagging campaign (though she dropped out two months later due to lackluster fundraising). John McCain, who later emerged as Bush's only serious competition in the GOP primaries, received just 83 votes in the poll, but was not an official candidate at the time; he was also considered unpopular in Iowa due to his opposition to ethanol subsidies. Due to poor results in the Iowa Straw Poll, Lamar Alexander and Dan Quayle both dropped out of the presidential race immediately after the Iowa Straw Poll.

2007 Sources of results: CBS News, Des Moines Register, KCCI

Place Candidate Votes Percentage 1 Mitt Romney 4,516 31.6% 2 Mike Huckabee 2,587 18.1% 3 Sam Brownback 2,192 15.3% 4 Tom Tancredo 1,961 13.7% 5 Ron Paul 1,305 9.1% 6 Tommy Thompson 1,039 7.3% 7 Fred Thompson 203 1.4% 8 Rudy Giuliani 183 1.3% 9 Duncan Hunter 174 1.2% 10 John McCain 101 0.7% 11 John H. Cox 41 0.3% Total 14,302 100%

14,302 ballots were cast in the 2007 Iowa-StrawPollNoShows"

In June, two months before the poll, presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain announced that they would skip the 2007 Iowa Straw Poll, while Fred Thompson had yet to officially enter the race. The Iowa Republican Party decided to include their names on the ballots anyway. Mitt Romney won the straw poll, as had been widely predicted prior to the event.

Tommy Thompson dropped out of the presidential campaign on August 12, 2007, one day after finishing in sixth place in the Iowa Straw Poll.

2011

The 2011 Iowa Straw Poll was held on August 13, 2011, at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.

Sources of results: Washington Examiner and National JournalBachmann wins Ames straw poll Place Candidate Votes Percentage 1 Michele Bachmann 4,823 28.6% 2 Ron Paul 4,671 27.7% 3 Tim Pawlenty 2,293 13.6% 4 Rick Santorum 1,657 9.8% 5 Herman Cain 1,456 8.6% 6 Rick Perry (write-in) 718 4.3% 7 Mitt Romney 567 3.4% 8 Newt Gingrich 385 2.3% 9 Jon Huntsman 69 0.4% 10 Thaddeus McCotter 35 0.2% — Scattering 218 1.30% Total 16,892 100%

Michelle Bachmann brought country superstar Randy Travis to the 2011 Ames Straw Poll and handed out flyers instructing voters that a free concert would be granted only after voting in the Ames Straw Poll and with this strategy Bachmann won the Straw Poll. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman were on the ballot but did not actively compete in the 2011 straw poll.Bachmann wins Iowa straw poll; Ron Paul is No. 2 McClatchy Newspapers. August 13, 2011. The day after the poll, on August 14, Tim Pawlenty announced his withdrawal from the race after his third-place finish. Rick Perry, who was not on the poll ballot and only appeared as a write-in candidate, formally announced his candidacy while in South Carolina on the same day that the poll took place.

2015