Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump participates in the third and final presidential debate at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in Las Vegas, Nevada, the United States, Oct.19, 2016.(Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump refused on Wednesday to pledge to accept the results of the upcoming election if he loses the race.
"I will look at it at the time. I'm not looking at anything now," Trump said during the third and final nationally televised presidential debate held at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
Pressed by the moderator, Chris Wallace of the Fox News, Trump reaffirmed that he would keep Americans in suspense whether he will accept the results of the Nov. 8 election.
The brash billionaire continued to claim that the U.S. election is rigged against him, citing that the dishonest and corrupt media have poisoned the minds of American voters. His claims have been widely dismissed by political leaders from both parties.
In response, Clinton criticized her opponent for refusing to honor the election results, citing that accepting the results of an election is fundamental to American democracy.
"This is how Donald thinks, it's funny, but it's really troubling. That is not the way our democracy works," she said.
During the debate, the two candidates continued their head-on clashes over a range of domestic and foreign issues from abortion, immigration, alleged Russia's hacking, to scandals involving Clinton's private emails and Clinton Foundation operations, as well as the sexual assault accusations against Trump.
Trump maintained his combative style by attacking Clinton over and over again over various issues and her scandals, in a desperate bid to turn things around after losing two previous debates and many polls are showing him trailing Clinton by double digits.
Clinton currently has a 12-point national lead (50 percent to 38 percent) over Trump among likely voters, according to a new poll released by the Monmouth University Monday.
With the Election Day less than three weeks away, early voting has already started in some battleground states. Regardless who won the debate, polls have shown that more than half of American voters said the debate would not change their minds.
