Some interesting tidbits can be found in the just-released poll from the Public Policy Institute of California about Californians’ opinions on health care reform, their elected leaders, and the state’s troubled prison system.

You can read the entire poll here. But the highlights:

* The mood seems brighter out there. 55% of those surveyed think things in California are going in the right direction… 40% approve of the job being done by the Legislature (that may look low, but the legislative branch’s ratings have been much lower for a long time)… and 58% now approve of the job being done by Governor Schwarzenegger.

* 71% say they approve of the governor’s health care reform plan, based on what they know, while 63% support going even further: a state-run health care system, even if it means raising taxes to pay for it… 79% like health care for kids in low-income families, but that drops to 56% when undocumented children are included.

* 63% of those surveyed say they support the governor’s call for an additional $43 billion in bond borrowing. And while that proposal includes money for prisons, a separate question in the PPIC survey finds some unhappiness about new prison spending. 54% oppose using new state revenues for prisons. And only 34% of those queried want the state to devote more resources to prisons.