“In September, we saw virtually the entire Big Ten as a battleground,” said Franklin, co-developer of Pollster.com. “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 new Big Ten poll shows Obama ahead in every Big Ten state, including Indiana, where McCain held a slight edge in September, and Ohio and Pennsylvania, where last month’s poll results showed the two candidates in a dead heat.



Head-to-head results for individual states

Illinois - Obama 61% McCain 32%
Indiana - Obama 51% McCain 41%
Iowa - Obama 52% McCain 39%
Michigan - Obama 58% McCain 36%
Minnesota - Obama 57% McCain 38%
Ohio - Obama 53% McCain 41%
Pennsylvania - Obama 52% McCain 41%
Wisconsin - Obama 53% McCain 40%

“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 Goldstein, a UW-Madison political science professor. “It appears Obama has and this race has popped nationally and here in the Big Ten.”