As of Friday, the Iowa Straw Poll for the 2016 cycle is no more.
The Iowa Republican Party’s State Central Committee on Friday voted to kill the informal poll, which had previously been planned for August 8. The final vote by the committee on Friday was unanimous.
“I’ve said since December that we would only hold a straw poll if the candidates wanted one, and this year, that is just not the case,” Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement after the vote. “For that reason I called a special meeting to update the State Central Committee, which then voted unanimously this morning to cancel the event.”
The cancellation follows three of the top candidates in the 2016 GOP field, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), choosing not spend money to compete in the poll, which was scheduled for Aug. 8.
Other candidates, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, had also tried to avoid questions on plans to attend the straw poll, the Des Moines Register noted.
In recent years, the poll has come under criticism for failing to consistently predict the eventual Republican nominee or the winner of the Iowa caucuses, despite its high-profile status within the early primary states. In the 2012 cycle, then-Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) won the poll, and in the 2008 cycle, Mitt Romney won it. Neither Bachmann nor Romney won the nomination or the Iowa caucus in the cycles they won the straw poll. In the 2000 cycle, Texas Gov. George W. Bush won the straw poll, the caucus, and cruised on to the nomination.
“This step, while extremely distasteful for those of us who love the straw poll, is necessary to strengthen our First in the Nation status and ensure our future nominee has the best chance possible to take back the White House in 2016,” Kaufmann continued.
