A small item of note today in the ongoing discussion of Governor Schwarzenegger and taxes and whether Californians actually may be willing to stomach something he isn’t.

The governor called what amounted to an impromptu news conference this morning to continue yesterday’s debate with Democrats about whether he had actually submitted budget reform proposals to the Legislature (this time, posing for a photo op with the documents to prove that he had introduced them).

But more interesting may be how he interprets the opinions of Californians on how to solve the state’s budget crisis. A poll released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (read it here) shows an interesting reaction to taxes by the citizens surveyed.

When asked how they would prefer to deal with the state’s budget gap, 40% of those surveyed answered “mixture of spending cuts and tax increases.” Another 11% answered “mostly through tax increases.”

That’s a little more than half that seem to be willing to accept some tax revenue proposals.

While it’s common knowledge that the governor is opposed to tax hikes, he has also said in the past that the opinions of the people on the subject of taxes are relevant.

In the news conference, I asked the governor what conclusion he draws from the poll results. “For me to solve the problem, is to live within our means,” he replied. He then went on to reiterate one of his familiar messages about revenues matching expenditures.

But when pressed, he claimed his own polls show Californians are against any tax increases, by what he says is a “2-1″ margin. His staff, however, later refused to clarify when that private poll was taken or what question might have actually been asked.

Even Democrats are not raising the same clamor this year, as last, about taxes. But if the latest statewide poll is to be believed, taxes certainly are not out of bounds in the minds of many Californians.