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MADISON, Wis. (AP) ― John McCain faces double-digit deficits in eight Midwest states, including Minnesota, with only 12 days to make up the difference, a poll released Thursday showed.

Barack Obama has substantial leads in the eight states that are home to universities in the Big Ten Conference, according to a poll sponsored by those universities. The states include three carried by Republican President Bush in 2004 and crucial in this election -- Ohio, Indiana and Iowa.

Obama's poll numbers were up dramatically from September, when the Big Ten Battleground Poll showed the race about even in all of the states except for Obama's home state of Illinois.

"With the fundamental factors so to their advantage, this election was always about Barack Obama and the Democrats reaching a threshold level of credibility with voters," said Ken Goldstein, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor and co-director of the poll. "It appears Obama has and this race has popped nationally and here in the Big Ten."

The first poll was taken just as the financial crisis first intensified and before Wall Street tanked.

"In September, we saw virtually the entire Big Ten as a battleground," said Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political scientist and co-director of the poll. "Now Obama is clearly winning the Big Ten battleground. The dominance of the economy as a top issue for voters is the overwhelming story."

The poll released Thursday showed Obama up 10 points in Indiana, 11 points in Pennsylvania, and 12 points in Ohio. The Democratic presidential nominee is up 13 points in Wisconsin and Iowa, 19 points in Minnesota, and 22 points in Michigan. And in his home state of Illinois, Obama is up 29 points.

The poll included registered voters and those likely to register before the election.

In recent weeks half a dozen other polls have shown Obama with a double-digit advantage in Wisconsin and solid leads in Iowa, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Polls have shown nearly even heat in Indiana and Ohio, and a slight Obama lead in Minnesota.

The region's states have been among the most competitive in the country, as they were in 2004, and will help determine who becomes the next president.

The eight states account for 117 electoral votes and both campaigns are spending big money on television advertising and on organizing supporters.

McCain's campaign has been in flux in a couple of the states recently. He pulled out of Michigan early in October and drastically scaled back TV advertising in Wisconsin. Republicans have been placing robocalls and sending direct mailings in Wisconsin and other states.

Obama's current plans don't call for any more visits to Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin or any other state that voted for Democrat John Kerry in 2004. Instead he is focusing on states that Bush won, including Ohio and Indiana.

McCain's current schedule shows his running mate Sarah Palin making stops in Ohio this week with McCain heading to other battleground states including Colorado, Missouri, Iowa and New Mexico.

The poll of between 562 and 586 people in each state is a partnership between universities in the eight Big Ten states. It was conducted Sunday through Wednesday and had a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.

The results come from a nationwide poll of 1,014 likely voters. Fifty-two percent said they favored Obama, compared with 43 percent for McCain. That question had a 3.1 percentage point margin of error.

Also in the national poll, 60 percent said they think Obama will be better able create change, compared with 28 percent for McCain. However, 70 percent said they thought McCain was more experienced.

Sixty-three percent listed the economy as the most important problem facing the country, compared with just 11 percent for terrorism, 7 percent for health care and 5 percent the Iraq war.

As for Palin, only 44 percent said they had a favorable view of her. That's down from 50 percent in the September poll.

Two-thirds had an unfavorable view of President Bush, and only 20 percent said they trusted the federal government to do what is right most or all of the time. More than 8 in 10 said the country was on the wrong track.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)