A poll released Wednesday by USC's College of Letters, Arts & Sciences says that undecided California voters are leaning toward Meg Whitman for governor by a double-digit margin.

Surveying 286 undecided voters, the  USC UVote 2010 pollsters found that 43 percent said they were likely to vote for former eBay CEO Whitman, while 32 percent supported Attorney General and former governor Jerry Brown.

"Undecided voters could be the deciders in California and play a pivotal role in deciding which direction California will head in the coming years," said USC study researcher Alexander Yebri.

Based on the latest USC College/Los Angeles Times Poll, 9 percent of registered California voters are undecided.  An estimated 63 percent of registered voters are women, suggesting that Whitman is resonating with undecided voters of her own gender.

In the larger scheme of things, voters don't like either Whitman or Brown all that much, with just 45 percent of likely voters feeling favorably about Brown and 37 percent about Whitman.  The LA Times reported also that: "Only 8% of likely voters said the state was headed in the right direction; 86% said it was on the wrong track."

UC Berkeley political scientist Bruce Cain told the paper: "I think this will go down to the wire. Voters are really uncertain and frustrated as to what to do. They don't believe anything anymore. Nothing's looking like it's new and promising to people."

The UVote poll also found that, among undecideds, incumbent Dem. Sen. Barbara Boxer leads Rep challenger Carly Fiorina in the midterm race for Boxer's Senate seat.