Hillary Clinton is ahead in the polls in five key battleground states according to Public Policy Polling figures released today.

She leads her Republican rival Donald Trump in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia - which have a combined 86 of the 270 electoral college votes required to win the election.

However, Clinton only holds single digit leads in all those states with a margin of error of roughly 3.5% in each.

Poll: Majority of voters in five key swing states say Clinton won debate https://t.co/ehh18pc9uC pic.twitter.com/MGu3YBmwWg — The Hill (@thehill) September 29, 2016

She holds a 7-point lead in Colorado, a 3-point lead in Florida, a 4-point advantage in North Carolina, a 5-point lead in Pennsylvania and a 6-point lead in Virginia in head-to-head polling.

Clinton also polled favourably among younger voters across the board.

!!! Younger voters in key swing states say Hillary was the big debate winner - @ppppolls https://t.co/4nqNdKzzLP pic.twitter.com/HPHkN9cxDU — Mark Elliott (@markmobility) September 29, 2016

Meanwhile, in a separate NBC poll taken directly after the debate, Trump is trailing among independent female voters.

27% of likely women voters said the they thought worse of Trump since the debate while 30% said their opinion of Clinton had improved.

The survey also found that 68% of Trump's supporters haven't changed their opinion of him after the showdown.

Overall, the poll found 52% who watched the debate thought Clinton won, 21% went for Trump while 26% felt neither candidate did enough to win the contest.