Trump trails Clinton by 8 points after
tape scandal, debate: Reuters/Ipsos poll
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[October 12, 2016]
By Chris Kahn
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump has
fallen further behind Hillary Clinton and now trails her by 8 points
among likely voters, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, with
1 in 5 Republicans saying his vulgar comments about groping women
disqualify him from the presidency.
The national tracking poll was launched after Sunday night's second
presidential debate, where Trump was pressed to explain his comments in
a 2005 videotape about grabbing women's genitalia. He described the
remarks, which first surfaced on Friday, as "locker room" banter and
apologized to Americans.
The poll released on Tuesday showed Clinton, the Democratic nominee, had
increased her lead over Trump, the Republican nominee, to 8 percentage
points on Monday from 5 points last week.
When asked to pick between the two major-party candidates, 45 percent of
likely voters said they supported Clinton while 37 percent supported
Trump. Another 18 percent said they would not support either candidate.
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Trump was under pressure during Sunday's debate to restore confidence in
his struggling campaign after dozens of lawmakers repudiated him over
the weekend. He hammered Clinton's handling of classified information
while serving as secretary of state and referred to her as "the devil."
At one point, he said he would jail Clinton if he were president.
Among those who said they watched at least portions of the debate, 53
percent said Clinton won while 32 percent said Trump won. The results
fell along partisan lines, however: 82 percent of Democrats felt Clinton
won, while 68 percent of Republicans felt that Trump won.
Among likely voters who watched the debate, 48 percent said they
supported Clinton while 38 percent supported Trump.
'LOCKER ROOM TALK'
In the 2005 Access Hollywood video Trump boasted about making unwanted
sexual advances toward women. "When you’re a star they let you do it,"
he is heard saying.
Some 61 percent of those polled said that "lots of men" occasionally
engage in similar conversations, and 46 percent, a plurality, said it
was unfair to judge someone on conversations "that they did not intend
for anyone else to hear."
Most of those polled said they believe Trump is a sexist, but they were
split on whether his comments disqualify him from being president. Some
42 percent of American adults, including 19 percent of registered
Republicans, said Trump's comments disqualified him, while 43 percent
said they did not.
Among Republicans, 58 percent said they want Trump to remain atop their
party's ticket, and 68 percent said the Republican leadership should
stand by him.
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Hillary Clinton speaks. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
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The video doesn't appear to have worsened Trump's standing among
women, who mostly had a low opinion of him already, according to
Reuters/Ipsos polling over the past 12 months.
When asked to pick between the two candidates, about 44 percent of
women chose Clinton while 29 percent selected Trump - roughly the
same proportion as measured in polls conducted before the weekend.
Trump, however, appears to be shedding support among evangelicals,
who are usually a wellspring of support for Republican presidential
candidates. Monday's poll showed that Trump had only a 1-point edge
over Clinton among people who identified as evangelicals. That’s
down from a 12-point advantage for Trump in July.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50
states. The poll of 2,386 American adults included 1,839 people who
watched the debates, 1,605 people who were considered likely voters
due to their registration status, voting history and stated
intention to vote in the election. Among the likely voters, the poll
counted 798 Democrats and 586 Republicans.
The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2
percentage points for the entire group, 3 points for likely voters
and the debate watchers, 4 points for Democrats and 5 points for
Republicans.
National opinion polls have measured support for the candidates in
different ways this year, yet most agree that Clinton is leading and
that her advantage has strengthened as the general election
approaches.
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RealClearPolitics, which tracks most major opinion polls, shows
Clinton ahead of Trump by an average of 7 percentage points, and
that her lead has grown since the middle of September.
(Reporting by Chris Kahn, editing by Ross Colvin)
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