As President Obama and Mitt Romney prepare for Monday’s third and final presidential debate, new polls are showing that the two candidates are tied nationally.

With only two weeks to go until Election Day 2012 the Democratic and Republican leaders are deadlocked, according to the latest NBC News and Wall Street Journal polls.

The poll was conducted entirely after the second presidential debate last Tuesday and showed Obama and Romney tied on 47 percent each among likely voters.

That indicates a further shift towards Romney, as the same poll just a week ago, released just prior to the second presidential debate showed President Obama in the lead over his GOP challenger, with 49 percent backing Obama at that time compared to just 46 percent for Romney.

Those figures are for likely voters.

However, if looked upon at the wider poll of “all registered voters” then the new survey shows that Obama is leading by five points, with 49 percent backing Obama and 44 percent for Romney.

Among voters in the midwest the two candidates are tied and nothing separates the White House hopefuls.

When looking at other demographic groups the polls show some interesting data; among the male voter demographic Romney is well in the lead by a margin of 10 points. Among males 53 percent plan to vote for Romney, compared to just 43 percent for Obama, according to the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll.

When looking at the female group demographic almost the exact opposite happens, with 51 percent backing Obama, and just 43 percent for Romney; giving the president an eight point margin within the group.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 17 through Oct. 20 and surveyed 1,000 registered voters and 816 likely voters.

The poll also carried a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the sample of registered voters and plus or minus 3.43 percentage points for the sample of likely voters.