something that you do or say in order to see whether other people will accept something or not 试探性行为[言辞]
Senator Lott is floating trial balloons to test public opinion on the bill.
洛特参议员放出“试探性气球”,看看舆论对这项议案的反应。
Examples from the Corpus
trial balloon• It was Mr Florio, elected in 1989, who floated himself as a trial balloon for Clintonomics.• A good cabinetofficer will take a policyproposal, put a trial balloon out.