Tired of how national polls are worded? Let's write our own.

[0rganism]

Let's get about 10 neutrally-worded questions together and then contract with a pollster to run a random phone survey.

If you're interested, just post a poll question or a small (two or three) block of tightly-related questions you'd like to see asked. The only thing I'd ask is that we strive to avoid "push polling" and "loaded words", as those are the very things that piss us off when the media shoves 'em down our throats. We can refine and recommend each-other's questions, and eventually come up with a "best of" to put to the test. What do you think of this idea?

[Gato Moteado]

1. here's my poll

Bush is:

a) a puppet
b) a terrorist
c) a drunk
d) a dry drunk
e) the dumbest guy to ever squat in the oval office

[firefox]

2. My question

Do you think that the war criminal that stole two elections should be impeached and removed from office and given a criminal trial concerning an illegal attack and occupation of Iraq and related war crimes, the outing of a CIA agent that endangered everyone in her operation, and the illegal surveillance of Americans in direct defiance of Congress?

I have scandal fatigue. I cannot remember the fourth big cause for impeachment.

[0rganism]

5. worded as a block of nominally neutral questions, it could be a good 'un

The next few questions regard your opinions of impeachment criteria for a sitting president of the United States. For each, say whether you strongly favor impeachment, favor impeachment, disfavor impeachment, or strongly disfavor impeachment of the president, independent of any other indictments or convictions of others potentially involved, or whether you think such events may have taken place.

Election fraud:
a. strongly favor impeachment
b. favor impeachment
c. niether favor nor disfavor impeachment
d. disfavor impeachment
e. strongly disfavor impeachment

Illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign country:
a. strongly favor impeachment
b. favor impeachment
c. niether favor nor disfavor impeachment
d. disfavor impeachment
e. strongly disfavor impeachment

Disclosure of the identity of covert CIA operatives to mass media:
a. strongly favor impeachment
b. favor impeachment
c. niether favor nor disfavor impeachment
d. disfavor impeachment
e. strongly disfavor impeachment

Illegal warrantless surveillance of American citizens:
a. strongly favor impeachment
b. favor impeachment
c. niether favor nor disfavor impeachment
d. disfavor impeachment
e. strongly disfavor impeachment

[JeffR]

3. Do you think Republican are:

a) Wrong

b) Dumb

c) Both

[0rganism]

4. Just to clarify

I am serious about this. If I'm going to pony up bucks to have questions asked, I want good info on the returns. Neutral question wording is essential to this process. We can't be asking stuff like, "If you knew that bush is a dry drunk, how would that affect your desire to have a beer with him?" Obviously this makes the process much drier and less entertaining.

A single mostly-neutral question:

Do you favor the Supreme Court of the United States establishing legal precedents which greatly increase the executive powers of the United States presidency?
a. strongly favor
b. favor
c. disfavor
d. strongly disfavor
e. undecided
f. don't know

Here's an example of a somewhat-neutral question block with follow-ups:
Are you currently employed?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Other
(If yes) Have you held your current job for at least one month?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Other
(If yes) How would you say your chances of remaining employed in the same job or a related one for the next twelve months have changed since January of 2001?
a. More likely than 2001
b. Less likely than 2001
c. About the same
d. Other