Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton faced off in the third and final presidential debate of the campaign on Wednesday night. The debate took place at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
The surrogates for both candidates are out in force at #debatenight pic.twitter.com/Frg6KB7GEM
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) October 20, 2016
The first issue to come up was the Supreme Court.
Trump said he would appoint justices who would defend the Second Amendment and gun rights, and would be pro-life. Clinton said she believes the court should overturn the Citizen's United case, which opened the political system to what she called "dark money."
The candidates also discussed immigration. Trump said some of his guests at the debate lost relatives to killers who were in the country illegally. He repeated his plan to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
Clinton said she doesn't want to rip families apart, especially those who with children born in the U.S. Clinton said Trump's proposal would require a massive law enforcement effort to round up millions in the country without documentation.
Supreme Court, Abortion, and Immigration in the first 20 minutes. Finally!!! #debate
— Lucy Nalpathanchil (@LucyVN) October 20, 2016
The candidates sparred as well over Moscow's influence in the presidential campaign. Clinton said Trump has been a "puppet" for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and that he condones what intelligence officials say is Russian intrusion. Trump countered that he doesn't know Putin. He said Clinton dislikes the Russian leader because he has outsmarted the former secretary of state and President Barack Obama.
Trump now on Clinton/Putin: "She doesn't like Putin because Putin has outsmarted her every step of the way." #debatenight
— Sam Sanders (@samsanders) October 20, 2016
Trump turned back to Debate 1 Trump bc got under his skin when Clinton said this: "That's because he'd rather have a puppet as president."
— Domenico Montanaro (@DomenicoNPR) October 20, 2016
Trump was asked by moderator Chris Wallace about the accusations of sexual assault by several women who have come forward in the media. "No one respects women more than I do," he said, and then criticized Clinton for her classified email scandal.
Asked if he would accept the result of the presidential election, Trump said he will "look at it at the time."
Donald Trump refuses to pledge to accept the results of the election. https://t.co/Th0cp8FFtC pic.twitter.com/Z6O1DcMd4S
— WSJ Politics (@WSJPolitics) October 20, 2016
This is remarkable. Trump refuses to say he will accept results of election - says Clinton not legitimate candidate because of email scandal
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) October 20, 2016
In a Quinnipiac University poll released on the day of the debate, Democrat Hillary Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by seven points, 47 to 40 percent among likely voters in the general election on November 8.
Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson polled at seven percent, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein is at one percent.
In a head-to-head race, Clinton leads Trump 50 to 44 percent.
The Q Poll also asked respondents about news media bias. A majority of likely voters, 55 to 42 percent, said the media is biased against Trump. But this opinion is strongest for Republicans, 88 percent of whom said the bias exists (independent voters said it too, by 61 to 37 percent). On the other hand, Democrats polled said the news media is not biased against Trump by 77 to 20 percent.
The debate Wednesday night was another opportunity to hear from the candidates unfiltered.
NPR's politics team -- with help from reporters and editors who cover national security, immigration, business, foreign policy and more -- provided live annotation of the debate. Portions of the debate with added analysis are highlighted.
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This report includes information from The Associated Press.
