How to make a poll on Google Forms (Steps & Examples)

Creating a poll on Google Forms is a simple and solid way to gather votes on a specific topic. Need to make a quick group decision? Polls. Want the community vote on what’s next? Polls. Whether you're planning a team event, gathering customer preferences, or making workplace decisions, a well-crafted poll can give you the insights you need in minutes.

Google Forms is well-known for creating forms, but it also allows you to create an online poll. This article will cover how to create a Google Forms poll step-by-step, give you poll best practices, limitations you might face in Google Forms, and a better alternative to create polls online.

Does Google Forms have a polling feature?

The short answer: In a way, yes.

When you create a poll in Google Forms, you're essentially building a very short form. As this short form works just as fine for polling, you can say that Google Forms allows free poll creation.

However, Google Forms is not the only polling tool within Google Workspace. Instead, you have two options within the ecosystem:

For most use cases, Google Forms is the go-to option. While it lacks specialized polling features like live results display or poll templates, it's free to use and easy to share with people during and outside meetings.

How to Create a Poll on Google Forms (step by step)

Creating a poll in Google Forms is straightforward once you know the steps. Follow this detailed tutorial to build your first poll on Google Forms.

1. Open a Google Form

Go to docs.google.com/forms, and sign in to your Google account. You must pick a form template since no poll or survey templates exist. You can open one of the Google Forms templates or start with a blank form.

Choosing a form template on Google Forms

2. Add a clear title and description

Your poll's title should immediately communicate what you're asking about. This helps respondents understand the purpose and increases completion rates. The best practice is to be specific: "New Weekly Team Meeting Time" instead of just "poll".

Adding a title and description for the poll

3. Create your poll questions

Click on the default "Untitled Question" field to add your first question. Now you know how to make a poll question on Google Forms. Keep your poll short and focused. Ideally, 1-3 questions for maximum completion rates. Stating the questions in clear language matters a lot for getting accurate feedback.

If you have a project, a plan, or a presentation to discuss, add images about it and make your poll related to the subject. Change the order of the questions as you want and choose the types, such as multiple-choice questions or open-ended ones.

When you want all questions answered, you can activate the required switch for your questions. Try to customize the outline of the poll with the limited features of Google Forms.

Adding poll questions

4. Add answer options

Add short, clear, and to-the-point answers so recipients don’t get confused or bored. To gather more individual feedback and data, ask open-ended questions or add ‘’other’’ in the questions’ options.

Adding answer options to the poll

5. Adjust your form settings

Click the Settings tab at the top of the form to configure important polling options. Under "settings" tab, you can:

Adjusting the Google Form settings

6. Customize the appearance

Make your poll more visually appealing and on-brand by clicking the palette icon (🎨) at the top. Google Forms only offers basic customization; however, you can try to get the most out of it by changing the font in Google Forms, trying different colors, and adding a header image to your Google Form.

Customizing the appearance of the poll

7. Share your poll

After all the edits, all that's left is to share the poll. Click the publish button and send the link to the page to the recipients' social media accounts or email addresses.

You can also generate a QR for your Google Form, but Google Forms itself does not have this feature, so you will have to use other tools.

Sharing the poll

You can analyze poll results by returning to Google Forms and switching the responses tab whenever you want to review them. Connect your form to Google Sheets from here or view outcomes as charts.

Well, is it possible to create polls directly without needing form templates in any better way? The answer is below with all the details.

Limitations of Google Forms for Polling

While Google Forms works for basic polls, it has significant limitations that might impact your polling needs. Here are some of them:

A better way to create polls: forms.app

If you are looking for a Google Forms alternative for polling, give forms.app a try. forms.app offers an easy-to-use drag and drop editor, a much better experience for the respondents, and free poll templates such as straw polls, employee polls, etc.

Here’s a detailed comparison of forms.app and Google Forms for polling:

How to create polls on forms.app

The numerous customization options and features available make forms.app an all-around form builder, as well as a powerful poll maker, and gather feedback efficiently. Follow the steps below to learn how to make a poll online using forms.app:

1. Choose a poll template or create one with AI

Get started by choosing one of the free online poll templates on forms.app or use the AI option to create a free poll by describing it. Some available templates are employee poll, classroom poll, straw poll, scheduling poll, public opinion poll, and anonymous poll.

Employee Poll

Straw Poll Template

Anonymous Poll

More poll templates

For this tutorial, we’ll create a poll to let employees pick a time for the next team retreat. So, we select the scheduling poll template, but you can choose whichever you like.

Choosing a poll template on forms.app

2. Change the title or add a welcome page

Add a clear poll title or add a welcome page to show before the questions. Here you can share important information, such as the deadline, and make the poll a little more fun, or make it feel more like you.

Change the title or add a welcome page

3. Add your questions

The template loads with sample questions and a custom design. Customize your poll however you like. Add questions to make your poll look professional, and adjust the order of the questions. Customize it using different questions such as multiple choice, open-ended, rating, ranking, etc.

For this tutorial, we are asking “Which weekend works best for you?” and show a conditional, follow-up question for those who choose “I cannot attend”, asking why.

Add your poll questions

4. Customize your poll

Design your poll by choosing the background, font, and colors. You can add an image or a logo to make it look professional. You can even make more specific changes, such as button text and button alignment.

You can also set how your questions will appear with the step view and list view options. Unique features are waiting for you in the design button.

Customize how your poll looks

5. Share your poll & review responses

After you create your poll, click the share button above. Share the form you created with the link, social media, and QR code, and embed HTML options, or you can send it to specific recipients' e-mail addresses by limiting it.

Share your poll by selecting a suitable sharing option

To review poll responses, go to “Results”. There, you can view each individual response, view the results as a table, see the results summary, view statistics, get AI insights, and share the poll results.

Viewing poll results on forms.app

Frequently asked questions