LAS VEGAS – An estimated 71.6 million people watched the final debate between White House contenders Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on TV on Wednesday, below the audience for their first encounter but the third-largest total ever recorded. 

The data supplied by the Nielsen ratings agency on Thursday covered people who watched Wednesday night’s debate on the four main U.S. broadcast networks plus nine cable and public television channels.

The first Clinton-Trump face-off in September attracted a total TV audience of 84 million, the largest in the history of U.S. presidential debates.

Last week’s second debate, which was broadcast opposite popular “Sunday Night Football,” was seen by 66.5 million.

The third debate ahead of the Nov. 8 election was marked by Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting the outcome of the election if the Republican candidate loses to his Democratic rival, challenging a cornerstone of American democracy.

The presidential election debate, held in Las Vegas, was moderated for the first time by a journalist from Fox News, Chris Wallace.

During the debate, Clinton accused Trump of being a “puppet” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has been accused by U.S. intelligence officials of meddling in the U.S. election.

Putin has been repeatedly thrust into the campaign for the Nov. 8 U.S. election.

Trump has praised him as a stronger leader than U.S. President Barack Obama, drawing criticism from Clinton and some Republicans that he is too cozy with the Russian president. 

Trump has also refused to concede that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails.

During Wednesday’s presidential debate, Trump said he did not know Putin but would likely get along better with the Russian leader than Clinton, a former secretary of state.

“He said nice things about me,” Trump said. “He has no respect for her, he has no respect for our president and I’ll tell you what, we’re in very serious trouble.”

Clinton responded: ”Well that’s because he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”

But the moment from the debate that has gained possibly the most traction on social media was  when Trump called Clinton a “nasty woman.”

Earlier, the Republican presidential nominee denied sexual assault allegations that had surfaced over the past few weeks, and repeated his assertion that “no one respects women more than me.”

The “nasty” exchange took place as Clinton fielded a question about taxes and Social Security.

Clinton explained that the country needs to put more money into the Social Security trust fund, which would require raising taxes on wealthy people – like herself and Trump.

“Social Security payroll contribution will go up – as will Donald’s, assuming he can’t figure out how to get out of it,” Clinton jabbed.

“Such a nasty woman,” Trump interrupted, speaking closely into the mic.

A growing number of voters think Donald Trump will lose the November presidential election to Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to a recent poll.

The USC Dornslife/Los Angeles Times Daybreak poll showed 56 percent of voters said they believed Clinton will become the country’s first female president. Thirty-eight percent said they thought Trump would win the race.

The difference is due in part to the number of Republican who no longer believe it’s possible for their party’s candidate to win the White House. Recent weeks have seen a wave of Republicans say they can no longer support Trump, citing a pattern of sexually aggressive comments and behavior towards women.

Those concerns are playing out in the polls, with Clinton up almost 7 percent.