Post-debate polls show Republican challenger Mitt Romney had a historic showing in his first bout with President Obama.
Romney impressed a remarkable number of viewers and pundits, with 67 percent of respondents in a CNN poll saying he won the debate, the highest percentage ever tallied by a presidential candidate since the question was first asked in 1984.
No candidate has even broken the 60 percent mark before.
Only 25 percent said the president won.
A CBS News poll showed similar, but less drastic results. Of 523 undecided voters, 46 percent said Romney won the debate. While lower, that is still nearly twice the percentage of those who said Obama won, 25 percent.
A Politico poll gives the debate to Romney, with 50 percent of respondents saying he came out on top, as opposed to 34 percent for the president.
And an extremely unscientific online poll run by Fox News shows Romney's debate performance beating Obama's by a whopping margin of 95 percent to 4.6 percent, though there is no limit on the number of times an individual may vote in that poll.
Sixty percent of respondents to the CNN poll say Obama did worse than they expected, while 82 percent said Romney fared better than they thought he would.
Both campaigns had tried to tamp down expectations going into the first debate, hoping their actual performances would compare favorably to lowered expectations, but that only seems to have worked for Romney.
In general, Romney is considered a better debater by most pundits, as he has had more practice recently in the Republican primaries. Obama was also expected to play defensively, hoping to hold on to his slight lead in the polls. Whether that lead will be eroded by Romney's debate performance remains to be seen.
Traditionally, the challenger receives a small bump in polls after the first debate, as it is the first time they are taken to be a serious contender to the incumbent by the public. Sitting presidents usually see little movement in their numbers after one debate, no matter their perceived performance.