The state that swept Democrats into virtually all statewide offices in 2006 and helped Barack Obama clinch the White House last year suddenly is taking on a reddish tinge.

For the first time in the Quinnipiac Poll, Ohioans have a negative appraisal of the Democratic president's job performance: 50 percent disapprove, 45 percent approve. Only two months ago he was winning approval by 9 percentage points in the Connecticut university's survey.

Yesterday's results came a day after the same poll showed Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's numbers sliding across the board in the state, and put him in a dead heat with GOP challenger John Kasich for next year's gubernatorial race.

Perhaps nothing illustrates the Democrats' rapid demise better than this: In a prospective 2010 U.S. Senate matchup, Cleveland-area car dealer Tom Ganley -- a political unknown to more than 80 percent of Ohioans -- is within 4 percentage points of two Democratic statewide officeholders, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

The other Republican in the race, former Congressman Rob Portman, tops both Fisher and Brunner for the first time since Quinnipiac began polling the contest in February.

"None of the Senate candidates is very well known, but what is significant is that until now Democrats were winning all the Senate matchups," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a statement. "Clearly, there is an at least temporary swing toward the GOP in Ohio. Whether it continues is anyone's guess."

The poll results showing a Republican resurgence in the Buckeye State seem to stem more from the growingly negative sentiments toward Democrats than newfound GOP strength.

"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 underwater in the most important swing state in the country," Brown said.

Meanwhile, 51 percent of Ohioans say Obama should follow a recommendation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to send 40,000 additional combat troops there. Forty percent oppose the escalation.

However, 55 percent of Ohio voters say a heavy presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan should last only another year or two.

In all, 48 percent say the U.S. is doing the right thing by fighting in Afghanistan, while 43 percent disagree.

In fact, 35 percent say the U.S. is headed for a Vietnam-style quagmire in Afghanistan, while 50 percent don't agree with that notion.

The telephone poll of 1,123 Ohio voters from Nov. 5 through Monday has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The error margin for the possible primary matchups is 4.9 points.

The poll is at www.quinnipiac.edu/images/polling/oh/oh11122009.doc.

drowland@dispatch.com