Tonight’s release of the latest statewide poll from the Public Policy Institute of California has a lot of interesting nuggets, so I’ll post them as separate items to ponder. But there’s one pretty consistent theme: the voters are grumpy.

And they’re grumpy about a lot of things — most notably the economy and their elected leaders.

As economists and politicians debate whether the country is — or isn’t– in a recession, it’s a no-brainer for Californians. 72% of those surveyed say that’s where we are. 58% believe it’s serious, and 76% expect bad times ahead for California.

63% of the survey’s respondents think California is headed in the wrong direction… a number that’s starting to inch toward the grumpiness felt by voters in 2003, just before the recall of then Governor Gray Davis. But it could be worse; we seem to be even gloomier about the direction things are going in the country (73% say we’re going the wrong way).

That sour mood may help explain the low approval ratings for elected officials. Most notable are Governor Schwarzenegger’s new numbers. Only 44% of those surveyed approve of the job he’s doing; that’s one of his lowest points since climbing out of the dog house with voters after the 2005 special election debacle. Voters’ feelings about the Legislature are, not surprisingly, still not so hot.