By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - One week before he visits Cincinnati, President Bush got some unwelcome news Tuesday from Ohio: His approval rating in the state has sunk 21 points since April.

The Ohio Poll, sponsored by the University of Cincinnati, showed 55 percent of Ohioans approve of the job Bush is doing, the lowest rating of his presidency. In April, during the Iraq war, his approval rating was 76 percent.

"One of the things we had going on in the spring was a rally-around-the-president effect as a result of the Iraq war," said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the Ohio Poll. That has dissipated, especially among Democrats and independents.

Even more troubling for Bush, Rademacher said, is that a majority of Ohioans now say he is handling the economy wrong. That's important because Ohio is a battleground state in the 2004 election. No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio.

The drop in Bush's approval in Ohio mirrors the national trend. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday, 50 percent approved of Bush's job performance, the president's lowest rating since he came to office and down from 71 percent in April.

Officials with the Bush-Cheney campaign shrugged off the poll results, saying they had predicted that the heady days of 70 percent and 80 percent approval ratings wouldn't last.

"No, I'm not worried," said Jo Ann Davidson, the campaign's chairwoman for Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. Davidson, former Ohio House speaker, said Ohio usually has close presidential elections.

"We're focusing on every single vote in every single state, and Ohio is very important to us," said Kevin Madden, spokesman for the national Bush-Cheney campaign. "It's a closely divided state, and it's one we expect to keep in the Bush column in 2004."

Bush beat Al Gore in Ohio in 2000 by 4 percentage points. Bill Clinton won Ohio in 1992 and 1996.

Bush comes to Cincinnati on Tuesday for a fund-raiser at the home of Carl Lindner III, co-president of Cincinnati-based American Financial Group and president of the Great American Insurance Co.

Greater Cincinnati remains Bush country. His approval rating in Southwest Ohio was 65 percent, according to the poll. His lowest rating in the state was in economically sputtering northeast Ohio.

Rademacher said Bush's standing is reminiscent of his father's, who led a successful war against Iraq but whose approval slid mostly because the public saw bleak economic prospects.

"I'm probably going to lose my overtime pay because of him, which sucks," said medical technician Melanie Zalatoris, 27, of Mason, referring to a Bush administration proposal to change who gets paid for overtime.

Like most Ohioans, Zalatoris said she supported Bush on the Iraq war but worries that the United States is faring so poorly in post-war Iraq. The Ohio Poll showed that 53 percent of Ohioans approve of how Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, down from 82 percent in April.

Democrats were gleeful at the poll results.

"It certainly means it ain't over 'til it's over," said Hamilton County Democratic Chairman Tim Burke. "The folks who wanted to decide the 2004 election two years ago were probably a tad premature."

The Ohio Poll of 809 adults was conducted between Sept. 4 and Sept. 19. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

E-mail cweiser@gns.gannett.com