The third presidential debate was a decisive win for President Barack Obama on Monday, closing the October debates with a two-one win over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The win echoed the results by Quinnipiac University poll released before the first presidential debate in which 54 percent to 28 percent of voters believed Obama would win the debates.
Monday night's instant polls declared the president the winner of the final debate, with some polls placing Obama in a 30-point lead.
The night's first instant poll, by CBS News, of over 500 undecided voters declared President Obama the clear winner of the last debate with 53 percent of the vote. Twenty-three percent of undecided voters polled said Romney won and 24 percent declared the debate a tie.
According to CBS, both Obama and Romney saw a jump among voters' trust in handling international crisis. Prior to the debate, 46 percent of voters said they trusted Romney, while 58 percent of voters said they trusted Obama. After the debate, those numbers jumped to 49 and 71, respectively.
A CNN/ORC International instant poll following the third debate revealed that 48 percent of registered voters said Obama won Monday's debate, while 40 percent said Romney was the winner. According to CNN, the poll also revealed a large gender gap, with women being far more supportive to the president and men lending their support to Romney.
CNN also reported that that almost six in ten debate viewers said Obama did a better job during the debate than expected and 44 percent said his Republican challenger did a better job than expected.
Swing state voters polled by Public Policy Polling (PPP) also declared Obama the winner, with 53 percent saying Obama won and 42 percent saying Romney won. According to PPP, all different demographic groups including men, women, Hispanics, African Americans, white voters, and young and older voters chose the president as the winner.
A poll conducted by U.S. News online found that Obama won the debate by a 28-point margin, 64 percent to Romney's 36 percent. Google's Consumer Survey gave the president a smaller 10.2 percent lead, 45.1 percent to 35.3 percent. Over 19 percent of those questioned by Google said the candidates "did the same."
Romney has enjoyed a surge among registered and likely voters since his strong performance at the first presidential debate but may be pulled back after Obama's two successful performances in the last two debates. However, how the debates affect the national polls will be revealed in the next couple of days.