A straw vote is a type of POLL or survey taken to gauge public opinion on a particular issue. It is not a scientific POLL and does not necessarily reflect the true opinion of the population. The term 'straw vote' comes from the phrase 'straw POLL, ' which was used in the 19th century to refer to an unofficial ballot taken to determine the opinion of a group. The crossword solution for the term 'straw vote' is POLL, which is a four-letter word.