This is the week of polls in the race for governor, and the just released survey from the Public Policy Institute of California packs a wallop: a 13 point lead for Arnold Schwarzenegger over Phil Angelides.

Among all likely voters, the governor comes in with 43%, Angelides with 30%, 8% favoring someone else (and half of those for recurring Green Party candidate Peter Camejo), and19% undecided. The margin of error in this case is 3%… which means any way you slice it, the governor’s out in front.

The PPIC survey is mainly focused on environmental issues. And while the governor has been dubbed one of the greenest GOP elected officials around, he’s not always been seen that way in previous polls. But in this survey, there’s an impression that he may not be a problem any more. Among those voters who said that a candidate’s environmental positions are “somewhat important,” Schwarzenegger is favored by 55%. Compare that to voters ranking the issue “very important”– that group favors Angelides, but not as heavily (44%).

Again, polls are only a snapshot in time of public opinion. But this poll comes only one day after the Field Poll also showed Schwarzenegger gaining ground. The PPIC poll also shows the governor’s job approval ratings growing, with 49% of likely voters surveyed saying they like what he’s doing.

Some other snippets from the poll:

* Proposition 87, the initiative to impose a tax on oil drilling that would fund alternative energy research, appears to be in good shape. 61% of those surveyed say they support it; even 51% of Republicans surveyed said they would vote yes.

* Global warming seems to be slightly more of a worry among voters; but more interesting is the sentiment among those polled that California is right to tackle the issue on its own. 65% of those surveyed said they support the state making its own policies on the issue, separate from the federal government.