Idiom
stalking horse
Meaning
A candidate put forward to serve a hidden, ulterior purpose in a political campaign, such as testing the field for another potential candidate by gauging voter sentiment or covertly helping another candidate by attracting voters away from a third candidate.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The candidate acts as a stalking horse for the party leader.”
“Many analysts believe the minor candidate is merely a stalking horse designed to split the opposition vote.”
“By entering the primary race, the senator served as a stalking horse, testing public reaction before the frontrunner officially announced his own campaign.”
Examples
simple
“The candidate acts as a stalking horse for the party leader.”
contextual
“Many analysts believe the minor candidate is merely a stalking horse designed to split the opposition vote.”
complex
“By entering the primary race, the senator served as a stalking horse, testing public reaction before the frontrunner officially announced his own campaign.”
Key words
Related idioms
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