WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton jumped to a double-digit lead over Donald Trump as voters were largely turned off by the brash billionaire’s comments about women and his unwillingness to accept the election’s outcome.
Clinton leads Trump by 12 points among likely voters nationally — 50 to 38 percent — with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 5 percent support and Green Party nominee Jill Stein at 2 percent, according to the latest ABC News tracking poll taken after the third and final presidential debate. It’s the biggest lead Clinton has ever posted in similar polls by ABC News and the Washington Post.
“No candidate has ever come back from this far behind,” ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos declared Sunday on “This Week.”
The poll found 69 percent of likely voters don’t like the way Trump has responded to charges of sexual assault. The GOP nominee has called the allegations of 11 women false, implied some women weren’t attractive enough to warrant his attention and promised Saturday to sue them.
Voters surveyed were turned off by Trump’s assertion that the election is “rigged” against him. Just 29 percent support Trump’s reluctance to say whether he’d accept a loss, and 59 percent don’t believe the Nov. 8 presidential election is rigged.
Clinton has a 20-point lead among women (55-35 percent), with a commanding advantage among college-educated white women (62-30 percent), who overwhelmingly disapproved of Trump’s sexual conduct.
Clinton has a slim edge with men (44-41 percent), while Trump has the advantage with white voters (47-43 percent).
The ABC News telephone poll was conducted Oct. 20-22 in English and Spanish among a random national sample of 874 likely voters. The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Separate polling out Sunday shows Clinton is making gains in a traditionally solid red state. The CBS News battleground tracker poll found Trump up just three points in Texas (46-43 percent).
Clinton holds a narrow lead in the big battleground prize of Florida (46-43 percent).
Republicans in both states believe Trump’s doubts about the validity of the election. More than eight in 10 Florida and Texas Republicans believe that voter fraud is widespread. Of those, more than eight in 10 believe the fraud will cost Trump the White House.
Focus group expert Frank Luntz faulted Trump for putting too much focus on his battles with women and the media, instead of on “forgotten Americans” looking for economic relief.
“I have never seen a campaign that has less discipline, less focus, less of an effective vision at a time when more Americans are demanding a change in the way their government works,” Luntz told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “This should have been a slam dunk for the GOP.”
Trump’s son Eric said no one should be counting his father out.
“My father is a guy who will fight and he will fight for this country and he’s always fought for himself,” Eric Trump told ABC’s “This Week.”
The middle Trump son said he supports his father’s response to 11 women who have accused the billionaire of sexual misconduct.
“He stands up for himself. He’s a fighter. That’s who my father is. … He believes in calling out right and wrong.”