The Iowa Republican Party has decided to cancel the traditional straw poll of Republican presidential candidates. Too many of the major front runners decided to skip it, meaning that a 2016 poll would practically be useless.
The party’s governing board made the decision unanimously, reports the Des Moines Register. The decision was easy after Jeb Bush (who still hasn’t officially announced his candidacy), Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum announced that they would not spend money to compete for straw poll votes.
Party officials had hoped that at least one big contender - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker - would participate, but even he wouldn't commit to it.
“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,” party chair Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement to CNN. “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 straw poll had previously been used as a party fundraiser since 1979. However, it has been a poor predictor of eventual GOP nominees. As USA Today notes, Mitt Romney won the 2007 straw poll, but lost the nomination to John McCain. In 2011, Michele Bachmann surprisingly won, but she failed to even win the Iowa caucuses.
The 2016 Iowa caucuses take place on Feb. 1.
image of Jeb Bush courtesy of INFphoto.com