Debate Polls: Did Donald Trump Or Hillary Clinton Win The Online Votes?

After the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Monday night, the first question on everybody's mind was, of course, who won? Like boxers celebrating before the decision after a bout, both Republican nominee Trump and Democratic nominee Clinton played it off like they won.

Pundits and political observers largely thought the former secretary of state came out ahead against the New York City businessman. Many believed Clinton came off as more prepared while Trump seemed to stumble and fade after initially attacking the Democratic nominee. But a number of informal polls online found Trump won the debate. As of about 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday, an online poll at The Hill with more than 120,000 respondents found that 58 percent thought Trump won, compared to Clinton at 36 percent. A similarly informal CNBC poll with more than 800,000 respondents at about 9 a.m. EDT had Trump up 66 percent to 34 percent. Trump himself tweeted about the online polls Monday night, screenshotting results from CNBC, The Hill, Variety, NJ.com, Variety and Breitbart, the outlet that was run by his campaign CEO Steve Bannon.

Online polls are not necessarily in line with what the country thought as a whole because the voting is informal. CNBC's poll even features a disclaimer to that effect. A more formal CNN/ORC poll found that 62 percent of respondents thought Clinton won, while 27 percent thought Trump won.

"That drubbing is similar to Mitt Romney's dominant performance over President Barack Obama in the first 2012 presidential debate," wrote CNN.

The survey spoke with 521 registered voters in the days leading up to the debate, then those people were re-interviewed after the event. The pool of respondents did skew Democratic and the margin of error was 4.5 percentage points. Still, perhaps most importantly for Clinton, independents who watched the debate thought she won 54 percent to 33 percent, according to the CNN/ORC survey.

The markets also apparently reacted as if Clinton won, according to analysts who talked with CNBC. "Early indications suggest Hillary won the debate; at least didn't lose. Futures are higher and the peso is rallying," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, according to CNBC.