US President Donald Trump is refusing to publicly commit to accepting the results of the upcoming White House election, recalling a similar threat he made weeks before the 2016 vote.
Speaking during an interview on Fox News Sunday, Mr Trump scoffed at polls showing him lagging behind Democrat Joe Biden.
He told interviewer Chris Wallace: “I have to see. Look … I have to see.
“No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time either.”
Four years ago, in the closing stages of Mr Trump’s race against Hillary Clinton, he said he would not commit to honouring the election results if the Democrat won.
Pressed during an October 2016 debate about whether he would abide by the voters’ will, Mr Trump responded that he would “keep you in suspense”.
Mr Trump has seen his presidential popularity erode over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and in the aftermath of nationwide protests centred on racial injustice that erupted after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis nearly two months ago.
He contends that a series of polls that show his popularity eroding and Mr Biden holding an advantage are faulty, saying he believes Republican voters are underrepresented in such surveys.
“First of all, I’m not losing, because those are fake polls,” Mr Trump said in the recorded interview, which was broadcast on Sunday.
“They were fake in 2016 and now they’re even more fake. The polls were much worse in 2016.”
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