 "US presidential debate: Clinton takes last round as Trump opts for 'suspense'")
Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton trumped her Republican opponent Donald Trump again when they took to the stage on Wednesday night, going head-to-head in their last presidential debate, according to the CNN/ORC and YouGovUS post-debate polls.
Trump and Clinton sparred over issues ranging from the agenda before the US Supreme Court, foreign policy, immigration, gun control to combating the Islamic State (IS).
According to the CNN/ORC post-debate poll of viewers, Clinton won the day according to 52 per cent of people polled, while only 39 per cent thought that Trump got the better of her in the last debate, which took place 20 days before the November 8 election.
In the YouGovUS post-debate poll, in which 1,503 registered voters who watched the debate were interviewed to find out who won the last round, 49 per cent thought that Hillary won the day, while 39 per cent thought that Trump trumped her.
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The 90-minute debate, which took place at University of Nevada's Thomas and Mack Centre, was moderated by Fox News journalist Chris Wallace.
Debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots, and “fitness to be president” were the topics covered during the debate.
According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, which is a daily average of the latest publicly available election polls, on the day of the debate Clinton was leading with 6.5 points.
Clinton was also largely held to be the winner of the second debate.
ALSO READ OUR COVERAGE OF THE 2ND DEBATE: US presidential debate: Polls show Clinton trumps Trump again
According to Politico, Trump interrupted Clinton 37 times during the presidential debate. However, Clinton, who interrupted Trump only five times, still out-talked him by six minutes.
Here is what the nominees said on the topics Wallace had picked for the debate:
On the Supreme Court and interpreting the Constitution
The debate started with the topic Supreme Court and the first question Wallace put out was "Where do you want to see the court take the country and secondly what's your view on how the Constitution should be interpreted?"
Clinton, who got the first question by coin flip, said: "When we talk about the Supreme Court, it really raises the central issue in this election, namely what kind of country are we going to be?"
She went on to all the left's wish list, including abortion, gay marriage and money in politics.
"I feel strongly that the Supreme Court needs to stand on the side of the American people, not on the side of the powerful corporations and wealthy... We need a Supreme Court that stands up on behalf of women's rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community," the former secretary of state said.
Trump replied to the question by saying, "The Supreme Court is what it's all about."
He hit Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her disparaging remarks about him. He then went after Clinton on gun control.
The Manhattan billionaire said he favours judges that see "the Constitution the way it was meant to be, and those are the people I would appoint".
Clinton insisted that she did not want to take away everyone's guns, but said she was in favour of sensible gun control.
"I support the second amendment...But I also believe that there can be and must be reasonable regulation," she added.
On immigration
Regarding immigration, Trump reiterated his stance to build his proposed wall along the Mexican border.
"We all want the wall... We have to have strong borders. We have to keep drugs out of the country," he said.
"She wants to have open borders," he accused Clinton.
"We have some bad 'hombres' here, and we're going to get them out," he adds, dropping a little Spanish.
Clinton condemned Trump's "deportation force", which she described as impractical and "an idea that is not in keeping with who we are as a nation".
On foreign policy and IS
The former First Lady said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted Trump to be elected because he wants a "puppet" as the US president.
"You're the puppet!" Trump snapped back.
He said that Putin had "outsmarted" and "outplayed" Clinton at every turn.
Clinton also said that she was "encouraged" by the role of US special forces, which are helping Iraqi troops in the recent offensive against IS. However, she made it clear that she will not support putting troops on the ground, adding that it's not in the US' interests.
"We need to keep our eye on IS," said Clinton, also calling for an "intelligence surge" to prevent homegrown terrorism.
On accepting the result of the election
On accepting the result of the election
Trump refused to say that he would accept the outcome of the US presidential election, leaving open the possibility that he would challenge the ultimate outcome.
Trump said he would wait to decide whether the outcome was legitimate. "I will tell you at the time, I will keep you in suspense," Trump said.
Clinton responded: "Let’s be clear about what he is saying and what that means: He is denigrating, he is talking down our democracy and I for one am appalled that someone who is the nominee for one of our two major parties would take that position."
Trump's comments contradicted what his daughter Ivanka had said on the topic ahead of the last debate. Ivanka Trump has said that her father would accept the results of the November 8 election.
"He'll either win or he won't win and I believe he'll accept the outcome either way," Ivanka had said.