Could we hook up with some organization with the necessary legal skills to help people find out this information? Seems like we ought to be able to get help from our Congresspeople but I don't know as I'd like to count on that...

Here are a few suggestions:

General

In 2004, did you vote in the election for President between George W. Bush, the Republican, and John Kerry, the Democrat?

Don't ask them who they voted for - a portion will lie because dubya's down in the polls.

Generally speaking, do you feel that things here in this part of the country are going in the right direction, or do you feel things are off on the wrong track?

Personalities
I am going to read you the names of a few people active in politics.  I'd like you to rate your feelings toward each as either very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative. If you don't know the name, just say so.

Issues
I am going to read you a list of issues facing the nation and in your community.  I'd like you to rate your opinion on each issue as either strongly agree, agree, neutral/don't know, disagree, and strongly disagree.

Demographics
Ideology - How would you describe your own political beliefs - very liberal, somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat conservative, or very conservative?

Party Identification - How would you describe your point of view in terms of the political parties?  Would you say you are mostly Democratic, leaning Democratic, Independent, leaning Republican, mostly Republican?

Age - In what age group are you?[ read]- 18-24, 25-34, 35-49, 50-64, 65+

Union Household - Are you, or is anyone in this household, a member of a labor union?

Education - What is the last year of schooling that you have completed[do not read categories]- 1 - 11th grade, HS grad, Non-college post HS, Some college, College grad, Post-graduate school

The larger the sample (up to 1200) the better - and much more expensive. The crosstabs would be golden, though.

The more demographic questions, the better (and more expensive). Things like income and profession.

The more issues questions, the better (and more expensive).

Get the biggest sample and longest questionnaire you can afford. I'd bet $15,000 to $25,000 would be in the ball park.

Create the fund, set up a bat or hammer and I'll give you five bucks. And one cent.

Sign ME up!

Don't get me wrong, I can "Buck Fush" with the best of them, but given a Republican controlled House you are not going to get impeachment and with a Republican controlled Senate you are not going to get conviction and absent that blowing thousands of dollars on "professionally done, with PR, a nice press release, media, the whole ball of wax." polling efforts is just wanking off while writing a couple of checks for consultants.

"Impeach Bush, impeach him now" is a good tag line for Brad DeLong, and a sentiment we can all get behind when venting. But as for putting good money into a quixotic venture going nowhere you can count me out.

Emasculate Bush by getting a Democratic Majority in 2006. That would be the necessary first step to impeachment anyhow.

And what could would polling do unless you were push polling? Achieving political gains through polling is what sleazes like Frank Luntz do. MyDD does not need to go down the Luntzway.

Polling results are (1) easily packaged for public consumption (2) entertaining to the news consumer. Lamentably, those criteria drive the content of the CNN/networks/Fox oligarchy - they follow naturally from the divorce of TV news from the public interest (which, of course, is a huge issue itself) - but given that status quo, it makes a lot of sense to package our own arguments accordingly.  

What I think is needed is a strong advertising campaign tying the White House's illegal activities to the corruption in congress. They need to be linked in people's minds so that a "clean sweep" theme can be used in 2006. This way anger at the admin will be directed at the only outlet, the mid-term elections. We can already see signs of this as unknown Dem newcomers get real notice as viable candidates. Just today there is a human interest story (with photo) of Duckworth in the NY Times.

A strong message like "the only way to rein in a runaway White House over the next three years is to change the balance in congress" would be the best approach, in my opinion.

Every 20 years or so the "clean sweep" theme resonates, this seems like the time. Impeachment is a non-starter and may be taken by some as disrespectful of the office of president. These are the "support our president" voters that are just the ones we need to swing.

Censure, or impeachment is a nice fantasy, as is a "Democratic Congress", but don't forget who actually counts the votes...

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/action-alerts-tell-congress-to-kill.html

he's got lots of great info on the subject.

silly poll question.

Maybe you can speak with one of the public policy think tanks that deal with Constitutional issues and set up a nonpartisan funding mechanism for the blogosphere (and beyond). A handful of libertarian bloggers participating in the funding drive would make any news reports on the polling contain more "tech saavy, youth" characterizations rather than "partisan attack" characterizations.

'The Constitution Project: Initiative on Liberty and Security' based at Georgetown's Public Policy Institute would be a perfect match. Bob Barr is no lefty and he gets lots of airtime as an expert on privacy and 4th Amendment matters. He sits on the Liberty and Security initiative board.

http://www.constitutionproject.org/libertyandsecurity/index.cfm?categoryId=3

December 21, 1998
In the wake of his impeachment, President Clinton's approval level with the voters leaps 10 points to a personal all-time high of 73 per cent in a Gallup poll. Sixty-eight per cent believe the Senate should not convict Mr Clinton in the pending impeachment trial, while support for resignation falls to 30 per cent. Other polls confirm the trend.

If the puropse of impeachment is justice then there are certain other steps that need to be taken first.  Maybe poll questions should include:

Should Congress create investigative committees?

Should a special prosecutor be appointed to look into the alleged PATRIOT Act wrongdoings?

Which political party is more likely to take these steps, Democrat or Republican?

Are you more or less likely to vote for a candidate in the 2006 elections who promises to take these steps?

Should the President be impeached if investigation suggests he may have broken the law?

In any case, we want the maximum momentum for the 2006 (and/or 2008?) election(s).

1. expensive

2. not very productive, because of the danger of the pollsters imposing their own ideas of what the poll "should" say - and believe it, there is a LOT of that - and

3. actually not very helpful, in the long run, because of the fact that pollsters have their own agendas; whether said agenda fits the desire of the hirer or not is moot; it exists, and there is NO WAY to counter it;  you could easily pay big money for no results.

First;  instead of hiring a professional pollster to do what he/she THINKS you want, why not get a GROUP of radicals, such as those of us who post on this site,to do two things:

1. Call people selected at random out of the local 'phone book, and ask them a series of questions, preferably not over ten.  They should be of the "Yes or No" variety, or of the "How much impact" variety.  They should NOT be of the "Have you stopped beating your wife yet" variety, which entirely too many of the "Mail Questionnaires" I receive almost daily are.  They should be generated by your staff, and collated by the same, after being sent to you by email.  They can be any number, depending on the individual initiative of the poster.

2. Be willing to be completely honest in reporting the answers they get, to the extent of willingness to notarize their results and send them to you via snail mail if desired; in other words, a factual poll, with no axe to grind other than the one which cuts to the bone of truth.

It's worth a try; but do you have the resources needed to do it up properly?