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We have found eight quasars with associated \MgII\ absorption ($z_{abs} \approx z_{qso}$) in a spectroscopic survey of 56 steep-radio-spectrum quasars. Several of these quasars have the unusual properties of having very red rest-frame colors and/or high optical polarization. In contrast, quasars selected by the presence of associated \CIV\ absorption show neither of these characteristics, although in both cases the absorption is correlated with steep radio spectral index. We discuss possible origins for associated absorption, including cluster galaxies, intracluster material, and material intrinsic to the quasar. The \MgII\ absorbed quasars, along with several \CIV\ absorbed quasars, have been re-observed at 80\,km\,s$^{-1}$ resolution. In addition, we have obtained spectropolarimetry of the two highest polarization objects (3C\,68.1 and 3C\,212). We present these data and discuss their implications.
