Jeff Merkley’s campaign responded to a new poll showing the Oregon House Speaker trailing in the polls to U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith by saying that as an incumbent, Smith is in trouble if he is not polling over 50 percent.

“Voters in Oregon know Senator Smith,” Merkley spokesman Matt Canter said. “With his name identification, he should be up to 60 percent. Oregon voters are looking for a new leader in Washington D.C.”

The Rasmussen poll, released Monday, showed Smith leading Merkley 47 percent to 39 percent. This is a 10-point turnaround from the previous month's Rasmussen poll, which showed Merkley leading Smith by two percentage points, which had prompted Canter to call that poll “historic.”

“Last poll was statistically insignificant,” Canter said. “It was just significant at the time because it was the first time Smith had been down in a poll since he ran against Ron Wyden.”

Canter was also quick to point out that with a margin of error of 4.5 percent, this poll was statistically insignificant too. Which is why he believes the telling mark is not that Smith is leading in the poll, it’s that Smith has not been able to come up with a majority of voters that say they will support him.

In the meantime, Canter said Merkley has been traveling the state, and meeting with people to increase his name recognition.

“Senator Smith has been in Oregon for two weeks since the end of the senate session, and he hasn’t done one public event,” Canter said. “In that time, Merkley has done 30 public events.”