AND THE POLLS – AT 9:15 A.M. ET:  Tough to tell because we don't know the methodology of all the polls, but Trump, to my surprise, seems to have the edge.   From London's Daily Mail, which does excellent political reporting on the United States: 

CNN awarded Hillary Clinton an overwhelming victory in the first presidential debate - but most snap polls show Trump emerged victorious.

Trump and Clinton tangled over the economy, her use of a private mail server and his unwillingness to release his income tax returns on Monday night.

They engaged in a vigorous back-and-forth on the debate stage at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, as polls showed them locked in a tight race.

However, after the debate's end, polls conducted by a number of media websites showed their readers felt the real estate mogul came out on top.

Trump acknowledged the result, tweeting: 'Wow, did great in the debate polls (except for @CNN - which I don't watch). Thank you!'

CNN/ORC's snap poll, gave Clinton the win with 62 per cent to Trump's 27.

It was the biggest, and fastest, exercise conducted by an opinion polling firm.

The poll of 521 registered voters who watched the debate was a sample which the network warned leaned more Democratic than the average - starting the night with Clinton ahead 26 per cent among the sample.

And while it handed the victory overwhelmingly to Clinton, it was more mixed on whether the debate will make a difference, with 47 per cent saying it would not affect their vote, 34 per cent saying it moved them towards Clinton - and 18 per cent towards Trump.

Online polls carried out afterwards gave a different outcome - handing the title to Trump.
Such polls are self-selecting, and more likely to pick up the views of those who vote, although CNN's study also reflected a similar bias.

COMMENT:  The real tracking polls will start to show reaction to the debate in a day or so.  Those are the ones to watch. 

September 27, 2016