Wed Nov 18, 8:48 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's job approval rating has dipped below 50 percent nationally for the first time, as Americans worry about the war in Afghanistan, a new poll released Wednesday found.

The Quinnipiac University poll showed 48 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, compared to 42 percent who disapprove.

The president also scored low marks from Americans on his handling of the situation in Afghanistan, with just 38 percent saying they approved of his approach, but a majority did say it was the "right thing" for US troops to be in the country.

Obama is in the process of picking a new strategy for the conflict in Afghanistan and weighing a request from his top commander in the country, General Stanley McChrystal, for an additional 40,000 troops.

The poll showed Americans favor, by a small margin, the dispatch of those reinforcements to Afghanistan, with 47 percent saying Obama should approve the increase, compared to 42 percent who opposed it.

Lees verder: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091118/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticsobama