A new Quinnipiac poll taken in the political bellwether state of Ohio shows that President Obama’s disapproval rating has jumped to 50 percent, with just 45 percent of voters approving of the job he’s doing. In September, he had a positive approval rating of 53 percent to 42 percent. More:

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….

“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,” [said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.]

The poll also shows Republican Rob Portman leading his potential Democratic opponents in the 2010 Senate race.