Polls show Trump's chances of winning plummet after debate

BY: WILLIAM STEAKIN

A week following the first presidential debate and Hillary Clinton is rising in the polls while her opponent Donald Trump trails slightly behind.

The former secretary of state leads the billionaire businessman 47.5 percent to 45 percent, according to the last Real Clear Politics average. Clinton's numbers have increased slightly since the debate as she entered at 46.6, however Trump has also jumped up a bit from his pre-debate average of 44.3 percent.

The latest poll numbers indicate a significant debate victory for Clinton over Trump, with one FOX News poll finding that 61 percent of voters who watched the debate viewed Clinton as the winner, and 21 saying Trump won the night.

Click through images from the first presidential debate:

Trump's overall chances of winning the White House in November plummeted following his debate performance last week. According to FiveThirtyEight's Election Forecast the billionaire businessman left the showdown at Hofstra University with just a 33.3 percent chance of victory, an over 10 point drop after entering the debate at 45 percent. Clinton currently holds a 66.7 percent chance of winning the election.

While the overall impact of the first presidential debate still being determined, a week of polling would suggest the advantage has gone to Clinton heading into the next presidential debate on October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis.

But the stakes for the next presidential debate were perhaps raised even higher over the weekend after a report from the New York Times detailed Trump's 1995 tax records. The documents showed he may have paid no federal taxes for years. Trump fired off multiple Tweets following the article's publication, stating, "I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them."

Trump has made it clear he plans to alter his debate strategy next go around, telling FOX and Friends he will look to ''hit her harder in certain ways." And on Saturday Trump may have given a preview to what he has in store for the next debate by mocking Clinton's recent health episode and calling into question the former secretary of state's 'loyalty' to her husband Bill Clinton.

The spotlight will shift to the running mates on Tuesday when they square off at Longwood University, Farmville, VA for the Vice presidential debate between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence.