Show of preferences in walk nursing injured paw (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
straw poll
'show of preferences' is the definition.
(type of informal poll)
'walk nursing injured paw' is the wordplay.
'walk' becomes 'stroll' (strolling is a kind of walking).
'nursing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'injured' indicates an anagram.
'paw' with letters rearranged gives 'awp'.
'stroll' going around 'awp' is 'STRAW POLL'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for straw poll that I've seen before include "Informal survey of votes" , "Unofficial ballot" , "Informal canvass" , "vote with no official standing" , "One checks opinion" .)