In the race for governor, the running dialogue among many political watchers is all about the efficacy of what the candidates are choosing to talk about... or not talk about.

And new poll numbers seem to validate what a lot of insiders are saying: the candidates are talking about the wrong things.

The complete poll from the Public Policy Institute of California is now out. In it, there's some interesting evidence that neither Arnold Schwarzenegger nor Phil Angelides are talking about the things that voters care about.

When asked whether they're satisfied with how much the candidates are focusing on "the issues most important to you," 54% of all likely voters said they are dissatisfied.

58% of independent voters are dissatisfied with what's being talked about-- that's something Schwarzenegger might consider, given how crucial independent voters are to his chances. And 59% of Democrats are dissatisfied with what's being talked about-- which probably should worry Angelides, who's still struggling to get Democrats to rally around his campaign.

And it's not like voters are clueless. 74% of those surveyed say they're following news about the race either very closely or fairly closely. And some 81% say they've seen some of the TV ads, which have largely focused on taxes (Arnold says Phil will raise them) and President George W. Bush (Phil says Arnold's too cozy with him).

So why are taxes and Bush such popular topics? The PPIC survey has info on that, too. Voters are pretty split about raising taxes for more services (44% yes/47% no)... a likely reason that Team Arnold thinks they have a winning strategy. And the poll also finds President Bush's approval ratings at 33% overall, and 28% for his handling of the war in Iraq... which probably fuels Team Angelides' desire to wrap the GOP governor up in the image of the GOP president.

Fair enough. But if the voters don't want to hear those things... then who knows where they'll eventually land come November 7.

The full poll will be online here tomorrow.