Obama will spend three days trekking through Minnesota, Iowa and his adopted home state of Illinois, all of which he carried in the 2008 election, and which he can ill afford to lose when he seeks a second term next year.
The White House said Obama, weakened by a debt showdown with Republicans, a lagging economic recovery, 9.1 percent unemployment and questions about his leadership, wants to listen to voters after weeks stuck in the capital.
"The president is excited at the opportunity to get out of Washington," said his communications director Dan Pfeiffer.
"During the debt ceiling debate we were trapped here, it felt like, for many, many weeks.
"He's looking forward to traveling back home to Illinois, Minnesota and also, of course, to Iowa, which is a place that always has had a special connection with this president and his White House."
Iowa is the state where Obama rose from obscurity and won the first Democratic nominating contest against Hillary Clinton in 2008, setting him on course for the presidency.
It is also the epicenter of the accelerating race for the Republican nominating race to take him on in 2012 among candidates who are savaging his record on the economy and job creation.
Rick Perry, who shot to the top tier of the Republican pack when he jumped into the race at the weekend, will also be on the stump in Iowa on Monday.
Tea Party favorite, Representative Michele Bachmann meanwhile is also on the attack, vowing to make Obama a one-term president after winning the state's closely-watched Republican Party straw poll on Saturday.
Obama will hold two town-hall style encounters on Monday, one in rural Minnesota and one in Iowa, which will for the first time put him head-to-head with Perry, a possible general election foe who is the conservative governor of Texas.
As he set out, the White House, battered by a grim August, got an unwelcome reminder of Obama's perilous political plight, as his approval rating dipped below 40 percent in a Gallup daily tracking poll for the first time.
In recent weeks, Obama has been particularly discomforted by a decision by ratings agency Standard and Poor's to cut the top notch AAA credit rating amid fears disfunction in Congress will hamper efforts to trim the US deficit.
Obama is due to speak at a town hall style meeting in Cannon Falls, Minnesota on Monday before heading to Decorah, Iowa. He then holds a rural economic forum in Peosta, Iowa, on Tuesday and holds town hall meetings in Atkinson and Alpha, Illinois on Wednesday before returning to Washington.
The unmistakable campaign style of the trip will help the Democratic president test his organization and grassroots support as the field of Republican presidential candidates takes clearer shape.
Texas Governor Rick Perry entered the race for the Republican nomination on Saturday and is expected to join early front-runner Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann in the top tier of candidates in the field.
Iowa, which launched Obama's historic journey to the White House in 2008, has recently been playing host to Republican presidential hopefuls who have been criticizing his record as they crisscross the state.
Bachmann on Saturday won the Iowa straw poll, an early test of strength among the Republican candidates.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty became the first major casualty of the campaign when he dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on Sunday after a disappointing showing the Iowa straw poll.
Obama's departure follows a spate of bad news that has dented confidence in his leadership, particularly after weeks of bitter debate to raise the U.S. debt limit that left exposed deep partisanship verging on government dysfunction.
A leading ratings agency downgraded the nation's AAA credit rating and fears of another U.S. recession have grown, adding to investor concerns about Europe's ongoing debt crisis. Stock markets whipsawed over the past week, producing one of the most volatile periods of Obama's presidency.
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