The traditional Iowa Straw Poll that had served as an early test for GOP presidential candidates would have taken place Saturday, August 8, 2015. The festival was cancelled back in June by a unanimous vote.
The Straw Poll had been going on since 1979, but suspicions that the Straw Poll may be on its last legs surfaced when several high-profile presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Mike Huckabee, announced they would not attend the event.
“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,” Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a previous statement.
In the past, to improve the Straw Poll and lower costs, they moved the location from Ames to Boone. Kaufmann says now they’re “listening again.”
