DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has announced the Iowa Youth Straw Poll will take place across the state on Tuesday, January 9. Less than one week before Iowans participate in the Iowa presidential caucuses, thousands of Iowa students will make their voices heard in the Iowa Youth Straw Poll and vote for their preferred candidates for U.S. President. The Iowa Youth Straw Poll is a hands-on educational experience designed to inspire civic engagement. Every public school, private school, homeschool student, and youth group in the state is invited to participate.

Pate says “We’ve seen Iowa’s young people become more and more civically engaged and excited about the elections process. Programs like the Iowa Youth Straw Poll not only give these students an opportunity to make their voices heard, but they get a firsthand understanding of how elections work, so they are better prepared to vote in elections once they are eligible.” Students, teachers, and organizations can register for the Iowa Youth Straw Poll by clicking here. A full list of schools that have already registered can be found here. Teachers and students are encouraged to post photos of their Youth Straw Poll activities on social media, utilizing the #BeAVoter hashtag.

The Youth Straw Poll is one component of Secretary Pate’s Elections 101 curriculum that is available for any school or civic organization to utilize. It is written by Iowa teachers for Iowa teachers. Two additional components of the curriculum include lesson plans on the history of women’s suffrage and women in politics. The curriculum is available for free at Elections101.Iowa.gov.

The Iowa Youth Straw Poll has the support of the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Council for the Social Studies and has received national recognition for outstanding leadership in voter education. Pate says “We’ll be live streaming results on January 9, and I encourage everyone to tune in, because historically, the results from these polls have been good predictors of official election and caucus results.”

The last Iowa Youth Straw Poll took place in the fall of 2022 and saw nearly 200 schools sign up to participate.