Quinnipiac Poll in Ohio: WOW!

For the first time, Republican Rob Portman is inching ahead of the two Democrats in the 2010 race for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Also for the first time, Ohio voters disapprove 50 - 45 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing, down from his 53 - 42 percent approval September 16 and 49 - 44 percent approval July 7.

In still another first, voters are split 40 - 40 percent on who is doing a better job handling health care, the President or Congressional Republicans, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh- pe-ack) University survey finds. In a September 16 survey on the same question, Obama was on top 49 - 28 percent.

Ohio voters disapprove 53 - 42 percent of the way the President is handling the economy and disapprove 57 - 36 percent of the way he is handling health care. In September, they approved of his handling of the economy 48 - 46 percent and split on his handling of health care 44 - 45 percent.

"The Democratic wave that swept through Ohio in 2006 and 2008 may be cresting. The Democratic lead in the Governor's and Senate races has evaporated and for the first time President Barack Obama is under water in the most important swing state in the country," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"Ohio voters are not happy with the President's handling of health care and the economy. The fact that they now are split whether he or the Republicans in Congress are better able to handle health care should be a very worrisome number at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. since the GOP is still pretty much a four-letter word in most of America."

Independent voters, often the group that decides Ohio elections, disapprove 49 - 45 percent of the overall job Obama is doing and disapprove 54 - 39 percent of his handling of the economy. They disapprove 62 - 34 percent, almost 2-1, of his handling of health care.