Although economic troubles continue to threaten President Obama’s re-election prospects, he still posts sizable leads over top Republican candidates in head-to-head matchups according to the latest Battleground poll.

Obama leads Mitt Romney by 6 percentage points and Herman Cain by 9 percentage points, giving him a leg up on his expected competition in the 2012 contest.

But more than half of Americans disapprove of the job the president has done, and against a generic Republican opponent, Obama posts a 43 percent to 43 percent tie, betraying the difficulty the president will face in selling his record in a tough reelection fight. Obama’s approval rating is even lower in 19 swing states identified by the pollers – there, only 40 percent approve of the president’s performance, with 57 percent disapproving.

In those swing states, a generic Republican leads Obama 46 percent to 39 percent.

Unsurprisingly, Obama’s struggles stem almost entirely from the struggling economy. 47 percent of Americans strongly disapprove of the job he is doing in that area, and another 15 percent somewhat disapprove. Conversely, only 35 percent of those surveyed approved of how the president was handling the economy.

Voters also seemed displeased with Obama’s handling of the federal budget, with half of those surveyed saying they strongly disapprove of the president’s handling of federal spending. More than half also disapprove of the way Obama has been handling job growth.

Still, most of those surveyed don’t want to see cuts to the programs that represent the biggest part of the federal buffet. 76 percent of those surveyed said that the worst possible item to cut would be either healthcare, defense, or Social Security – the largest slices of the federal deficit.

But Obama will have a tough time selling himself in a climate where two-thirds of Americans don’t believe the next generation will be better off than the current one.

READ MORE: THE HILL