Two new polls released Thursday bode poorly for President Obama, particularly with regard to his leadership on the economy. A CNN/ORC poll found that 66 percent of respondents disprove of the commander-in-chief's handling of the federal deficit, with 62 percent disapproving of his handling of unemployment, which as been hovering above 9 percent. Also released today, the president hit a new low in Quinnipiac University's periodic survey inspired by the lousy economy:

Voters disapprove of Obama's performance by a margin of 52-42%, compared to 47-46% in July, Quinnipiac reports. Among whites and men, Obama's approval rating is in the 30s...

Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, [says] it's "ominous" for Obama "that the share of voters who think he has strong leadership qualities has dropped from 6433% in January to 50-48% now."

"Voters say 54-42% that he cares about their problems, but that is not impressive since it is a measure on which Democratic presidents historically rate well," Brown added.

On the bright side for Obama, leaders in Congress rate even worse, with voters trusting the president to manage the economy over Republicans by 44-41 percent. Brown also noted that "voters still blame former president George W. Bush -- rather than Obama -- for the economy by 53-32%" adding that one "can only imagine what Obama's approval rating might look like if that ever changes."

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John Hudson