Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump went head to head in the final presidential debate on Wednesday night, after a fractious evening which saw Trump declare that he would keep the country “in suspense” over whether he would accept the outcome of the election.
During heated exchanges, Trump clashed with Clinton on topics such as abortion, saying doctors would be ready to “rip the baby out of the womb of the mother” under Hillary’s policies, while Clinton accused Trump of being “a puppet” of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
We gathered a selection of our readers’ views on how the debate unfolded - and which of the candidates emerged as the winner.
The debate seemed close at the start
Clinton was better than she was in the first debate
Hillary was even better than in the first debate. She was ready for childish lines.
He talks like Hillary was the ruler of the world for 30 years.
Bringing up Bernie again when he has endorsed her was beyond stupid.
And he respects women more than anyone made everyone laugh.
And showed his respect by calling her a nasty woman. Only thing was missing was C and N words.
Trump didn’t do himself any favors
Trump didn't do himself any favors tonight as far as his presidential aspirations go.
As far as his next chapter as a far-right media overlord goes, he hit it out of the park.
He is all ready to be out there, first thing on the morning after the election, railing against the crooked media, so that he can pivot to the role he'll play as the only guy who can fix it. And he'll start directing his followers to keep tuned in to whatever channel/website/podcast he comes up with.
They will hear him rail against the same people and groups they hate, they will hear him call Clinton much worse than a "nasty woman", they will hear a plethora of conspiracy theories presented as fact, they will find a safe space for all of their misplaced, uninformed rage - and that rage will be encouraged and inflamed.
Trump will not win the White House, but he will find an even more insidious way to threaten our republic - as the Pied Piper for every deplorable who refuses to accept that this rhetoric is based in pure, ugly insanity.
Chocolate cake or circular saw?
Never has the choice for President been so clear.
It's a bit like being offered the choice between a piece of chocolate cake and putting your face into a circular saw.
Trump is completely out of his depth, totally irresponsible in his comments and utterly contemptible.
Trump can’t cope with the idea of losing to a woman
Almost every senior Republican is now on record as disagreeing with Trump on this matter. Even his running mate, Pence, has said he will accept the result.
Trump hasn't provided any evidence of a vote-rigging campaign against him. He is just trying to shift the blame for his defeat. He can't cope with the idea of losing, and worse, of losing to a woman.
It's an attempt by Trump to de-legitimise Clinton's victory. In the same way, Trump spent 5 years obsessively heading a racist campaign to to undermine Obama, by claiming he wasn't even born in the US.
Trump is a vile little man.
She destroyed him
Well, she handily destroyed him. Looking forward to at least 4 years of centre-rightwing to right wing policies. At least it won't be fascist, I guess.
Trump just added a few more nails into his electoral coffin
It wasn't really necessary for Trump to hammer another couple of dozen nails into his electoral coffin. He did it anyway. Game long over. Congratulations to Hillary.
Clinton should listen to Trump supporters
I have only watched the early morning highlights (if that is the right word) of the debate but I don't think we learned anything we did not already know.
One thing I did not know until I saw a documentary on Hillary Clinton was what a radical she was in her youth. With a sympathetic Congress she would do well to recapture some of that reforming zeal.
However grotesque Trump is and however obvious it is that he is a false prophet millions of Americans are prepared to support him. As has been the case with Brexit in the UK there are many people for whom the system really is rigged.
Their jobs have been exported to China or they have been forced into low paid and uncertain employment. In the mean time a new metropolitan elite has thrived. This is the 1% who have become so removed from ordinary people that they will latch on to anyone who tells them what they want to hear.
If Clinton wants to be a great President she should listen to these people. Not the hard right republicans but the Sanders supporters who feel the same pain but have a better solution. I have never bought the idea that the Clinton's are in the pockets of Wall Street and the next 4 years will be their chance to prove it.
Trump thinks he’s above the law
For Donald Trump to suggest that he might not be bound by the results of the election is to put himself above the law. In terms of the election actually taking place he's just signalled that he's not fit to take part, but then I think most Americans already suspected as much.
We were introduced to the word ‘bigly’
Trump used the word "bigly" twice last night. Donald Trump lost bigly in the debate. And on the morning of November 9th, he will be known as America's Bigliest Loser'!
He really doesn't seem able to stop shooting himself in the foot. You've got to wonder at this point whether he thinks he can rouse his army of deplorables to some sort of armed insurrection if, as most people expect, the vote does not go his way. It's becoming apparent he may well be unstable enough.
With regards to the debate in general, I thought it was close for the first half hour or so then, as per usual he veered into shouty ravy territory, interrupting randomly and unnecessarily. She stayed fairly stable throughout even when she was on the defensive and ultimately won fairly easily, in my opinion at least. Lines like "that nasty woman" and his constant "WRONG" interjection aren't going to help him win over many undecided voters.
Their closing statements summed it all up for me: Clinton's was a message of hope and unification, Trump couldn't help himself and ended on a pointless attack. Never has a candidate proven himself so utterly childlike - it's entertaining but profoundly disturbing that he's actually managed to make it this far.