Poll: Obama winner of third debate

A new poll released Thursday shows a majority of debate watchers believe President Barack Obama won the third and final presidential debate over Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

The Gallup poll, taken entirely after the last debate focused on foreign policy and held in Boca Raton, Florida, indicated 56% of debate watchers thought Obama did a better job while 33% thought Romney won.

A CNN/ORC International poll taken after the Florida debate showed Obama with a slight edge over Romney. Forty-eight percent of registered voters who watched the debate thought Obama won while 40% thought Romney did the better job. The president's eight-point advantage over the former Massachusetts governor came among a debate audience that was slightly more Republican than the country as a whole and is just within the survey's sampling error.

The Gallup poll also indicated debate watchers split evenly on which candidate did a better job overall in the three presidential debates. Forty-six percent said Romney did the better job and 44% said Obama -- a two point margin that is well within the survey's sampling error.

A Gallup survey taken after the second presidential debate in Hempstead, New York also showed those who watched the second presidential faceoff thought Obama won, 51% to Romney's 38%. Following the first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado and a noticeably lackluster performance from the president, debate watchers believed Romney won by a wider margin, 72% to Obama's 20%.

Thursday's Gallup poll was conducted from October 23-24 among 746 debate watchers aged 18 and older. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points.