A new Survey and Policy Research Institute poll finds California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) "strategy is working as designed. By moving toward the political center, he is becoming less offensive to Democratic and independent voters."
Schwarzenegger leads Phil Angelides (D), 30% to 25%, and Steve Westly (D), 28% to 24%, with the majority of voters still undecided.
Other key findings:
"The governor's job performance now is approved by 40%, with 51% disapproving. That's up slightly from late September... More significantly, the Democrats' approval of Schwarzenegger is up by six points and their disapproval down by eight."
"The changing mood of independents is striking: Approval is up 13 points, disapproval down 17 points."