A new poll Tuesday showed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama ahead in Wisconsin by 17 points over Republican presidential nominee John McCain at 54 to 37.

The Quinnipiac University poll is a drastic rise from other recent polls, which show Obama up 10 points, and pre-debate polls, which showed 8 percent.

According to both the Republican and Democratic campaigns, polls have less bearing than would be expected on what the actual result will be on Election Day.

“We see it as one poll in many to come in the next three weeks, which is an eternity when talking about politics” said Kirsten Kukowski, communications director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin communications director for the Obama campaign, Phil Walzak, voiced the same opinion, saying every poll is different from the next and “to extrapolate anything meaningful is hard to do.”

Regardless of the continuing fall of McCain in the polls, the Republican Party remains hopeful McCain can still win Wisconsin, saying there is no discussion of him pulling out of the state as he recently did in Michigan.

“Things will turn around for Sen. John McCain and Sarah Palin, it’s inevitable,” Kukowski said. “We’re not worried about it.”

Walzak disagrees, saying concrete records are more concrete than any poll and the people of Wisconsin are “hungry for a message that includes Senator Obama’s message.”

The poll also revealed among Wisconsin women voters, Obama leads 59 to 33 percent, whereas he leads by only 8 percent among men. Obama is also leading by 13 percent among white voters and 16 percent among independent voters.

On the topic of vice presidential candidates, the poll reported 74 percent of voters say Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is qualified to be vice president, whereas only 43 percent feel Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is qualified.

On the issue of the economy, 53 percent of Wisconsin voters say Obama has a better understanding versus 32 percent who say McCain does. When it comes to foreign policy, 57 percent of voters agree that McCain has the better understanding compared to 32 percent for Obama.

This Quinnipiac poll was one of four released by Connecticut University for Wisconsin during this election cycle, the first one coming about four months ago and the last one released Tuesday.