Blanche Lincoln Trails John Boozman in Arkansas Senate Race, Poll Finds

Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who narrowly survived a tight Democratic primary fight, may be up against an even tougher battle in the general election, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

The Ipsos survey found the incumbent Lincoln trailing Republican Rep. John Boozman by 19 points -- 54 percent to 35 percent.

"There's a general incumbent backlash and she hasn't been able to stave it off," Ipsos pollster Cliff Young told Reuters, which commissioned the survey. It is still early, he said, "but in a relative sense she's not in a good position."

The poll indicates Arkansas voters give Lincoln little credit for the key role she played in the passage of President Obama's Wall Street reform overhaul. When respondents were asked who fights for Main Street over Wall Street, 42 percent chose Boozman, compared to 29 percent who said Lincoln. Asked who is tough on banks, 29 percent said Lincoln and 32 percent picked Boozman, who voted against the financial reform bill.

Fully 44 percent of those polled said Boozman was the candidate who "understands the problems of someone like me." Only 33 percent said Lincoln did.

The poll of 600 registered voters was conducted by telephone between July 16-18, and has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Read the complete poll results here.