On the heels of a Washington Post/ABC News poll showing Americans against a bailout of the Big Three automakers 54 percent to 37 percent, two polls are out today showing a closer divide in public opinion.

A Gallup poll conducted Dec. 4-7 showed 51 percent opposing financial assistance compared to 49 percent who favored it. That compared with Gallup's mid-November poll in which the public favored aid 47 percent to 43 percent.

A CBS News poll, also conducted Dec. 4-7, showed the split at 45 percent to 44 percent in favor of aid.

The snap polls of reaction to the debate seem to agree: Barack Obama won again.

Fifty-eight percent of debate watchers said that Obama did the best job in the debate compared to 31 percent for John McCain, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll. The debate caused favorable opinions of Obama to rise slightly from 63 percent at the start to 66 percent, while McCain's slipped 51 percent to 49 percent.

Obama expressed his views more clearly than McCain in the opinion of viewers, who chose Obama by 66 percent to 25 percent. Obama came across as the stronger leader by 23 points and more likable by 48 points.

Although the town hall-style format is one that John McCain has used to great success Barack Obama came out on top in last night's debate, according to polls by CNN/Opinion Research and CBS News.

In CNN's poll, debate-watchers said by 54 percent to 30 percent that Obama did the best job. By 54 percent to 43 percent, they said Obama came across as the stronger leader and 65 percent found him more likable compared to 28 percent for McCain.

"McCain's advantage on leadership shrunk from 19 points in September to just five points this weekend," said CNN polling director Keating Holland said. "If Obama can use this debate to convince Americans that he is a stronger leader than McCain, he may be difficult to defeat."

While the stock resoundingly voted thumbs down by several hundred Dow points, several national polls presented different pictures of how voters viewed the economic bailout package approved by Congress last week and signed into law by President Bush.

In a Pew Research Center poll, conducted Oct. 3-5, voters were mixed in how they felt about the federal economic bailout , with 42 percent saying it was the right thing to do while 39 percent disagreed and 19 percent said they didn't know or refused to answered the question. That was a drop in support of 7 points compared to the last poll taken before congressional approval. The overall margin of error is 4.5 percent with margins of error in the 7 to 8 percent range for Republicans, Democrats and independents.

Most of the new national polls released today are all good news for Barack Obama, although one survey has the race tighter than the others.

Obama has opened up a 53 percent to 45 percent lead over John McCain among likely voters in a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Oct. 3-5. The margin of error is 3.5 points. CNN's mid-September poll had Obama ahead by 4 points.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted Oct. 4-5 has Obama ahead by 49 percent to 43 percent. The margin of error is 3.8 percent. Two weeks ago, this survey gave Obama a 2 point lead.

A CBS News poll conducted Oct. 3-5 has Obama ahead 48 percent to 45 percent among likely voters with 5 percent undecided. The margin of error is 3 points.

A George Washington University Battleground Poll conducted Sept. 30 - Oct .2 had Obama leading McCain 50 percent to 43 percent with 7 percent undecided. The margin of error is 3.5 percent

Fifty-one percent of those who watched the debate said that Joseph Biden did the best job, compared to 36 percent for Sarah Palin, according to a CNN poll. The margin of error is 4 points. Debate-watchers also though Biden showed himself to be the more intelligent by a 57 percent to 26 percent margin.

Based on what they heard, voters said by 53 percent to 42 percent that Biden seemed more likely to bring change to Washington, even though he is a 35 year veteran of the Senate.

Eighty-seven percent said Biden was qualified to be President compared to 46 percent for Palin.

In an almost-instant poll following the first presidential debate, Barack Obama emerged ahead of John McCain.

A CBS News/Knowledge Network poll of 500 uncommitted voters found that 40 percent thought Obama was the winner, 22 percent though McCain won and 38 percent called it a draw.

Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama improved as a result of the debate.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll of people who had watched the debates said 51 percent thought Obama did the better job in Friday night's debate, while 38 percent said McCain did better.

Sixty percent of viewers said they thought McCain did better than they expected while 57 percent said the same of Obama. More than two-thirs said they believed either man was capable of handling the job of President.

Debate watchers gave Obama a 58 percent to 37 percent edge on which candidate would do a better job handling the economy and Obama bested McCain by a similar margin about who would better handle, in specific, the current financial crisis.

On McCain's forte (at least in most polls), national security, he led Obama only by 49 percent to 45 percent, which was with the poll's 4.5 point margin of error.

CNN polling director Keating Holland said, "The real test will come in a few days when we see whether support for Obama or McCain changes in polls involving all voters, not just debate watchers...(John) Kerry also won the third debate in 2004 with the same numbers that Obama got in tonight's poll, but his support dropped five points after that event."

John McCain has pulled out ahead of Barack Obama in a CBS News poll comducted Sept. 5-7, although by a statistically insignificant margin. McCain leads Obama 46 percent to 44 percent with 9 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4 percent. In its last poll before the Democratic convention, Obama led 45 percent to 42 percent with 10 percent undecided. Click here for the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll also released today, a round-up of the daily tracking polls, a look at five critical swing states and our latest state-by-state general election match-ups.

Now it's John McCain's turn. After Barack Obama got his post-convention bounce, opening up leads of 7 points or more, the Republican convention has helped McCain close the gap again. A CBS News poll conducted Sept. 1-3, before McCain's acceptance speech, has him tied with Obama at 42 percent with 12 percent undecided. The margin of error is 3 points. CBS's poll after the Democratic convention put Obama up by 8 points.

The opening days of the Republican fest made some dent in the "enthusiasm" gap with the number of McCain supporters saying they were enthusiastic rising from 25 percent to 35 percent. Fifty-five percent of Obama supporters described themselves as enthusiastic but that was down from 67 percent in the last poll.

Some other notes:

• Independents are divided.
• Sixty-nine percent of former supporters of Hillary Clinton say they are backing Obama, up from 58 percent.
• Sixty-six percent of white evangelicals are backing McCain, up from 57 percent.

There's some more polling information out today on Sarah Palin but unfortunately all of it was conducted before last night's speech, so we suspect these numbers will change.

Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Sept. 3:

• Fifty-seven percent of likely voters have been following the Palin story very closely and another 28 percent somewhat closely.
• Fifty-one percent believe the press is out to get Palin, while 35 percent say its coverage of her is unbiased.
• Voters believe Obama has the better experience to be President than Palin by 49 percent to 39 percent.
• A quarter of voters say the choice of Palin will make them more likely to vote for John McCain, a fifth say less likely, and just over half say it will have no impact on their decisions.

CBS News poll conducted Sept. 1-2:

• Sixty percent of registered voters are undecided about Palin or don't know enough about her to have an opinion. Of those who do, 26 percent have a favorable view of her and 13 percent an unfavorable one.
• More than one in four voters interviewed after Palin's selection say that the Vice Presidential choice will matter to them this year. However, 68 percent say the selection won't make a difference in their vote.