Hasta La Gadget!

Polling has been struggling with an image problem following some high profile pre-election problems in recent years, so it’s little surprise that more than half of Americans don’t trust public opinion polls.

A new McClatchy/Marist poll finds that only 37 percent of registered voters have a great deal or a good amount of trust in public opinion polling. Only seven percent say they have a great deal of trust in comparison to 22 percent of voters who don’t trust polling at all and 38 percent who don’t trust it very much.

Democrats have more confidence in public opinion measures than other groups, with 47 percent saying they have “a great deal” or “a good amount” of trust in opinion polls. Only 26 percent of Republicans agree, though, with 73 percent saying they don’t trust polling “very much” or even “at all.” Independent voters echo the overall views.

It’s understandable that many people wouldn’t trust public opinion polls after the run of election polling errors ― or perceived errors ― in recent years.

Critics point to Brexit polls, which mostly indicated that staying in the European Union would eke out a narrow victory in the U.K. referendum last year, and to the U.S. state-level polls that failed to indicate President Donald Trump would win in enough key states to take the Electoral College majority and win the presidency.

In light of these recent issues and known difficulties in identifying who will turn out to vote ― a key source of uncertainty in the election polling enterprise ― more skepticism by the public and the media regarding election polls is probably warranted.  

But even with extra skepticism about election polls, there’s no other measure that can give us a broad view of what the public thinks. Plus, most polls on public policy don’t have the same issue of trying to identify who will vote, so measuring opinion in this case is much simpler.

Of course, reporters and politicians can talk to people anywhere, but the people they talk to won’t be representative of all Americans.

Only public opinion polls go through the necessary steps to contact a sample that is as close as possible to representative of the American population (or Americans who are registered to vote, as many polls place their focus on this population for political matters). That means randomly sampling people from all over the country, or getting people from all over the country to sign up for “panels” and carefully selecting a representative sample out of those groups to complete the survey.

Polls, when done carefully, are pretty good representations of American opinion ― with some room for error, of course, since they’re based on samples of a few hundred or a thousand people. Additionally, they can be tested against and weighted to known benchmarks, such as census data to check their representativeness.

Yet, because of election issues, and because people choose what they prefer to believe based on their own experiences and ignore that other perspectives exist, people would rather not trust the polls.  

But consider that the president of the United States reportedly still consumes polls as much as he did during the election. Of course, he often dismisses polls that don’t look good for him as “phony” or “rigged,” but the fact that he looks at the data means he thinks polls are indicative of opinion. It also means that Americans have a direct avenue to getting their voices heard by the president.

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Abigail Adams wanted her husband John Adams to “remember the ladies” when writing the Constitution of The United States. 

According to History.com, a 32-year-old Abigail wrote a letter to John dated March 31, 1776. Abigail wrote that she hoped Continental Congress would be more “favorable” to women than their ancestors had been.

“I long to hear that you have declared an independency,” Abigail wrote. “And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.” 

The letter came just a few months before America’s independence from Britain in July 1776. Little did Abigail and her husband know, John was to become the second president of the United States in 1797. 

In possibly the best line of the letter, Abigail reminded John what happens when men get ahold of “unlimited power.” 

“Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could,” she wrote. “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” 

She continued: 

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity.

Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation [sic] of the Supreem [sic] Being make use of that power only for our happiness.

Well, this is pretty much a perfect note to end Women’s History Month on.

Head over to The Massachusetts Historical Society to read the full letter. 

This Women’s History Month, remember that we have the power to make history every day. Follow along with HuffPost on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in March using #WeMakeHerstory.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.