Less than six months before the primary election, Ohio voters don't know much about the Democratic and Republican candidates who are running for a key open Senate seat, according to a Quinnipiac poll taken Nov. 5-9.

More than half of respondents said they didn't have enough information to render either a favorable or an unfavorable impression of Republicans Rob Portman and Tom Ganley and Democrats Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner, who are vying to succeed retiring GOP Sen. George V. Voinovich.

But the poll did show a shift toward the Republicans in that President Obama's disapproval rating in Ohio (50 percent) is now higher than his approval rating (45 percent). And Portman, a former House member from the Cincinnati area and the party-endorsed candidate for the Senate, now has slight leads over Fisher, the lieutenant governor, and Brunner, the Ohio secretary of state.

Two months ago, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, enjoyed a 10-point advantage over his likely Republican challenger in 2010, John Kasich. But now, the two split the vote down the middle, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted Nov. 5-9.

Ohio voters see Kasich -- a former congressman (1983-2001) and onetime host of a talk show on the Fox News Channel -- as better able to rebuild the state's economy and handle the budget, the poll found.

The 1,123 Ohio voters who participated in the telephone survey are evenly divided on the governor's race, with Strickland and Kasich each garnering 40 percent of the vote. Strickland's approval rating barely outpaces his disapproval rating, 45 percent to 43 percent, marking his lowest job-performance approval numbers since he took office in 2007.

One year before Ohio voters decide whether or not to re-elect Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, less than half of them approve of his job performance, according to a survey conducted Oct. 14-20 by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati.

According to the survey, 48 percent of respondents said they approve of Strickland's performance as governor and 37 percent said they disapprove. Six months ago, Strickland's numbers were 56 percent approve and 34 percent disapprove.

Barely two in five respondents (41 percent) said they approve of Strickland's handling of the economy, compared to 49 percent who said they disapprove.

Just over a year before the Ohio gubernatorial election, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland is virtually tied with his likely Republican opponent, former Rep. John Kasich, according to a University of Cincinnati Ohio Poll conducted Oct. 14-16.

Strickland was favored for re-election by 48 percent of the registered voters responding to the survey, while 47 percent said they would vote for Kasich to unseat him.

Strickland, also a former member of Congress, was elected governor as Ohio -- along with much of the industrial Midwest -- was heading into a recession that has been especially hard on heavy manufacturing.

There's no early favorite in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Ohio, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Sept. 23.

Former Rep. Rob Portman, a former federal budget and trade official who is the leading Republican candidate for the seat, is essentially running even with the Democratic candidates, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Portman has 41 percent and Fisher has 40 percent in the poll, which gave Portman 40 percent when paired with Brunner, who has 38 percent support.

Democrats have slight advantages over Republicans in Ohio's 2010 races for governor and senator, but a lot of voters are still unfamiliar with most of the candidates, according to a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll conducted July 6-8.

In the Senate race, Republican former Rep. Rob Portman trails Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher by 42 percent to 35 percent and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner by 40 percent to 36 percent.

In a Democratic primary, Fisher leads Brunner, 22 percent to 17 percent, with 61 percent undecided.

Though Fisher and Brunner are statewide officials, about half of respondents said they didn't know enough about them to have either a favorable or unfavorable opinion of them. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they didn't have an opinion about Portman, a budget and trade official to President George W. Bush.

The two Democrat hopefuls to replace retiring GOP Sen. George Voinovich, Jennifer Brunner and Lee Fisher, are running neck-and-neck for the party's nomination, but both of them would lead (although, in one case, not by much) the two GOP candidates they were matched up against in a Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 26 - July 1.

But they hold that edge in an economic environment bad enough that President Obama's approval ratings has slipped to 49 percent to 44 percent, and 48 percent to 46, disapproves of the way he is handling the economy. In May, his approval-to-disapproval ratio was 62 percent to 31 percent and his marks on the economy were 57 percent to 36 percent.

While Democrats have enjoyed two election cycles where they made huge strides in building their congressional majorities, we've been struck by the series of polls in the last few weeks that show a far grimmer outlook for their gubernatorial colleagues as we approach 2010.

Here's a summary of the last five governor polls we've posted here in Poll Tracker:

• New Hampshire: Three-term Democratic Gov. John Lynch was re-elected by landslides in his last two races and has enjoyed high approval ratings since his first term as New Hampshire governor, but economic and budget challenges have taken some of the luster off his current standing, according to a University of New Hampshire Granite State poll conducted June 24 - July 1.

First-term Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland is looking increasingly vulnerable in 2010 especially if the economy stays in the tank, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted June 26 - July 1.

Strickland's favorable-to-unfavorable ratio stands at 42 percent to 37 percent in the current poll compared to 53 percent to 25 percent in May. His job approval rating is down to 46 percent to 42 percent compared to 57 percent to 29 percent in May. Voters say by 40 percent to 34 percent that, so far in his administration, he has not kept his campaign promises. They disapprove of his handling of the economy by 53 percent to 33 percent and of the state budget by a similar margin.

Democrats Jennifer Brunner and Lee Fisher both hold leads over Republican Rob Portman in match-ups to fill the seat of retiring GOP Sen. George Voinovich, although neither so far seems to be firing the imaginations of the state's voters, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted June 17.19.

Brunner, the Secretary of State, leads Portman 40 percent to 32 percent with 29 percent undecided, and Fisher, the lieutenant governor, leads 41 percent to 32 percent with 27 percent undecided. Portman was a six-term congressman who left the House to take posts in the Bush administration.

Ohio's Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland looks very vulnerable to a 2010 challenge from former Republican Rep. John Kasich, with Strickland holding only a 44 percent to 42 percent lead with 14 percent undecided in a Public Policy Polling survey conducted June 17-19. The margin of error is 3.9 percent.

Strickland's favorable-to-unfavorable ratio is only 43 percent to 42 percent with 15 percent undecided. Kasich's is 31 percent to 30 percent, but in his case, 39 percent are undecided which is not surprising, since despite his nine terms, he left the House after 2000.

Regardless of whether Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher or Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wins the nomination, a Democrat is favored to replace retiring Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich in Ohio, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

As expected this far out before an election, the poll of 1,079 voters conducted April 28-May 4 contains a large percentage of undecided. But Fisher would edge Brunner for the nomination and beat Republican Rob Portman, the former U.S. trade representative and congressman, in a general election matchup by 41 percent to 31 percent.

Fisher also would beat Republican State Auditor Mary Taylor, 41 percent to 29 percent. If Brunner turned out to be the Democratic nominee, the poll found she would also defeat either Portman or Taylor by eight to nine points.

Approval ratings for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland remain high, although a survey finds that most adults in his state think the economy there is bad and getting worse, according to a poll released Thursday.

Strickland, a Democrat, was elected in 2006 and is up for re-election next year.

Fifty-six percent of those surveyed said they approve of the way Strickland is handling his job, while 34% disapprove, according to the Ohio Poll by the University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research.

The race for the Democratic nomination to seek the Ohio seat of retiring Republican Sen. George Voinovich is "a wide-open affair" while, on the GOP side, former Rep. Rob Portman holds a significant lead, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted March 10-15. In general election match-ups, the Democrats come out ahead of the Republicans.

For the Democrats, the poll had Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in the lead at 18 percent, followed by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner at 14 percent, and Rep. Tim Ryan at 12 percent. State Rep. Tyrone Yates polled 6 percent. At this early stage, 46 percent were undecided. The margin of error for the Democrats was 4.4 points.

Democrats hold the early edge in the quest to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. George Voinovich, but this early on, voters still don't know much about the candidates so the blueing of Ohio should not be taken for granted, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted Jan. 29 - Feb .2.

As far as the question for the nomination in each party, former White House Budget Director and congressman Rob Portman leads Ohio state auditor Mary Taylor 33 percent to 11 percent but 56 percent are undecided.

Today we update Pennsylvania, California, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nevada and Minnesota in our round-up of general election match-ups between John McCain and Barack Obama. As with the latest national polls, the movement in these polls and the ones we posted yesterday appears to be mostly towards Obama. A Time/CNN/Opinion Research poll said McCain was struggling in states that President Bush won in 2004 such as North Carolina, Ohio, and Indiana.

Visit our Presidential election maps which give you four different ways to look at the race, including one that lets you build your own electoral scenario.

Here's a summary of our race ratings categories. Use this link for background on how we arrive at them

• No Clear Favorite, for races that are deemed to close to call.
• Leans Democratic and Leans Republican, for highly competitive races in which the named party is perceived to have at least a slight edge, but in which an upset is a highly plausible possibility.
• Democrat Favored and Republican Favored, for races in which the named party has a clearer advantage and is likely to win, though an upset cannot be completely ruled out.
• Safe Democratic and Safe Republican, for races in which the named party is viewed as certain to win.

Today we update Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Virginia and Oklahoma in our round-up of state-by-state general election match-ups between Barack Obama and John McCain. One set of the new polls is Quinnipiac University's swing state surveys of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania which like the AP-GfK and Pew Research Center surveys we posted earlier show Obama benefiting from the first presidential debate, greater voter trust in him on the economy and falling favorability ratings of Sarah Palin.

Obama also gained significant ground in polls conducted in five battleground states in a CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research poll released today. CNN polling director Keating Holland said, "Obama has gained ground among moderates in all five states." He added, That may have something to do with the first presidential debate. Some commentators knocked Obama for agreeing with McCain as often as he did, but moderates tend to like it when candidates appear willing to see the other side's point of view." The states were Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia.

Our latest round-up of match-ups between Barack Obama and John McCain updates Florida, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, New Hampshire, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Illinois, New Hampshire, Georgia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Ohio. One series of polls that stood out was a new "Big Ten Battleground Poll" co-directed by University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientists. Of six states they surveyed, McCain and Obama were exactly tied or statistically tied in five: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Pennsylvania with only Obama's home state of Illinois being non-competitive. Some of these were also among the 33 updates we posted yesterday. Also, check out CQ Politics' election forecasts for detailed stories on races in each state from the tops of the tickets down. Also go to our Presidential Election Maps to see our calls and use our Scenario Builder to make your own.