Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Thursday said Donald Trump is questioning “the legitimacy of our democracy,” after Mr. Trump declined to say whether he would accept next month’s election results during Wednesday’s presidential debate.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the things that Donald Trump is saying and doing are genuinely a threat to the democratic process, which is based on trust,” Mr. Biden said while campaigning for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire.
“No democratic process can be sustained without a sense of trust,” Mr. Biden said. “He’s questioning not the legitimacy of our elections — the legitimacy of our democracy.”
“If you question, if you assert that a democratic election is fixed, you are attacking the very essence of the notion whether we have a democratic system,” he said.
Mr. Trump said Thursday at a campaign stop in Ohio that he’d accept the election results if he wins. He also said he would accept a clear election result but would reserve the right to challenge a questionable one.
Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Trump by about 7 points in New Hampshire in the latest Real Clear Politics average.
New Hampshire has gone Democratic in five of the last six presidential elections, and President Obama carried it twice.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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