Incumbent U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Des Moines, is easily beating his Republican challenger Brad Zaun by 12 percentage points, according to the latest The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll released Wednesday morning.

The poll, conduced by Penn Schoen Berland and made up of 404 phone interviews of likely voters last week, found Boswell leading Zaun 49 percent to 37 percent. Boswell leads by 17 percentage points with independents and is pulling 10 percent of Republicans. Boswell is viewed favorably by 51 percent of those polled, compared to only 38 percent for Zaun. The margin of error is 4.9 percent.

The survey polled 33 percent Democrats, 34 percent independents and 30 percent Republicans. Fifty-five percent were older than 55, and 41 percent made less than $50,000 a year. When asked if the fact that Boswell has been in office for multiple terms is a reason to vote for or against him, 52 percent said it was a reason to support the Democrat.

Boswell and Zaun are even among male voters, but among females Boswell is favored 56 percent to only 30 percent for Zaun. Fifty-two percent of women surveyed said they had an unfavorable view of Zaun.

The Hill, a DC-based newspaper, surveyed 42 toss-up districts over four weeks, finding Republicans stand to make huge gains this fall. Of the 42 districts polled, 31 had Republicans in the lead. Boswell stood out as the incumbent with the largest lead, with the paper saying he is the only Democrat who “can truly breathe easy” this fall.

(Photo: Flickr Creative Commons/Mark Warner)