In July, Trump sparked criticism after telling people at a Christian summit they would never need to vote again if he returned to the White House next year.
He told the crowd to “get out and vote, just this time”, adding that “you won’t have to do it any more. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians”.
The Republican nominee later clarified his comments, saying: “That statement is very simple. I said: ‘Vote for me, you’re not gonna have to do it ever again.’ It’s true, because we have to get the vote out. Christians are not known as a big voting group, they don’t vote. And I’m explaining that to them. You never vote. This time, vote.
“I’ll straighten out the country, you won’t have to vote any more, I won’t need your vote any more, you can go back to not voting.”
Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020 but refused to accept he was defeated and insisted the election had been “stolen”. On Jan 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt, spurred by his allegations, to stop the certification of the election result.
In recent months, he refused several times to commit to unconditionally recognising the result of the forthcoming election.
His remarks came as a new NBC News poll found he was trailing Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, by five points nationally.