straw poll

Etymology
It may allude to a straw (thin plant stalk) held up to see in what direction the wind blows: in this case, the metaphorical wind of group opinion.

Noun

 * 1)  A survey of opinion or a vote that is nonbinding, unofficial, casual, or ad hoc.
 * 2) * 2002: I don't think it was innocence that made me want to carry out a straw poll of women friends on the plausibility of this passage &mdash; James Meek in London Review of Books, Vol. 24 No. 22, 14 November 2002

Translations

 * Finnish: pikakysely
 * German: unverbindliche Abstimmung,, inoffizielle Umfrage, , Probeumfrage, Blitzumfrage
 * Irish: suirbhé samplála
 * Spanish: ,