That’s the message that voters in a new poll are sending to lawmakers who hope to modify the state’s 17-year old term limits law.

Just out tonight, the Public Policy Institute of California’s poll finds overwhelming support for the current legislative term limits law, and just as overwhelming opposition to a proposed change that would allow legislators to serve two fewer years, but also serve their entire careers in either the Assembly or Senate.

The new PPIC survey finds that 68% of the likely voters say that the existing term limits law is a good thing. And 64% of those same voters are opposed to any plan to tweak term limits through a February 2008 ballot initiative.

The initiative in question is probably not going to be ready for signature gathering for another 10 days or so. Still, it’s hard to see how the financial backers needed to gather those signatures, and run a campaign, will want to part with their cash… given how long the odds seem to be.

However, backers of the proposed term limits initiative dispute the PPIC’s numbers. In fact, Democratic pollster David Binder says his poll numbers on term limits reform are much more rosy… because, he says, PPIC asked the question the wrong way. Binder and the political team of Democratic strategist Gale Kaufman sent an email to reporters today showing that when voters were told the initiative actually reduces the time served in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years, 59% say they would vote ‘yes.’

Meantime, the PPIC poll shows strong support for redistricting reform (66% yes), slightly lower-than-before job approval ratings for Governor Schwarzenegger (51% of all Californians) and surprisingly strong job approval ratings for the Legislature (41% of all Californians).

Maybe that’s why they seem like to like term limits just the way they are.