Press. voanews.com
Republican
presidential Donald Trump faced new headwinds Monday, with the party's top
elected official all but conceding that Democrat Hillary Clinton will win the
race for the White House and new polls showing her surging to a decided edge. House
of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan told his Republican colleagues in a conference
call that he would no longer defend Trump's often impolitic comments that have
offended many voters, including lewd remarks about women in a 2005 tape in
which the brash real estate mogul boasted how he could grope them because he
was a celebrity.
Instead, Ryan
said he would spend the last weeks before the November 8 election working to
preserve the party's House majority by campaigning for other Republicans, to
try to stop Clinton from winning a blank check for legislative action with the
election of a Democratic-controlled Congress. Republicans now control both the
House and Senate. One person on the conference call said Ryan has not withdrawn
support for the embattled Trump, but won't campaign with him. Ryan told other
Republican House members "to do what's best for you in your
district."
Trump rebuked
Ryan, saying in a Twitter comment, that he "should spend more time on
balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on
fighting (the) Republican nominee." Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton said Monday Trump spent his time at the debate attacking when
he should have been apologizing.
Clinton held a
rally in Detroit Monday -- her first campaign appearance since the contentious
debate. She told the crowd that Trump "doubled down" on his
explanation that it was just locker-room talk between men. She called it
"a really weak excuse for behaving badly and mistreating people."
Moments later,
Trump appeared in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, saying all Clinton could talk about
in the debate was "small petty things." He tore into the media for
"beating me up" for 72 hours while ignoring allegations of Clinton
threatening women who Trump says were raped and sexually assaulted by her
husband, dormer President Bill Clinton.
Trump campaign
reeling
The political
fallout became apparent in the latest national surveys, on top of older polls
showing Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, with a five-percentage point
advantage. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, conducted entirely over the
weekend as American voters considered Trump's remarks, showed Clinton pulling
to an even bigger lead, a 46-to-35 percent edge in a four-way race with two
other candidates.
Another poll, by
Rasmussen Reports, that was partly conducted after disclosure of the 2005 tape
showed Clinton ahead 45 to 38 percent, when it said the race was virtually tied
just days ago. In Sunday's second presidential debate with Clinton, Trump said
his taped comments were just "locker-room talk," even as he allowed
that he was "very embarrassed" by his remarks and hated them.
Meanwhile,
Republican officials on the party's national committee were talking by phone
late Monday about Trump's declining fortunes and the state of congressional
races across the country.
Unlikely debate
changed minds
Political
scientist Stephen Wayne of Georgetown University in Washington told VOA that
the debate likely solidified support for both candidates, not necessarily
changing the campaign's track that has boosted Clinton to her national polling
advantage and commanding leads in key battleground states that will decide the
outcome.
Political
scientist John Sides at George Washington University said of the debate,
"My sense of the narrative is that Trump did better, but it won't be enough
to improve his poll numbers. Again, this is an impression of the conventional
wisdom that is coming together."
Wayne said he
thinks the debate might have unified Clinton's support among "Democratic
voters who may have been worried about her. Trump solidified his base, but not
beyond the base. I thought it revealed the true character of each candidate. It
reinforced our views of both candidates and their weaknesses."
Wayne said Trump
"showed no knowledge of the issues," while she was "well
prepared to defend herself and support traditional Democratic issues." A
CNN snap poll in the hours after the debate said Clinton won it, by a 57-to-34
percent margin.
Trump threatened
to jail Clinton if he is elected for her handling of national security emails
while she was the country's top diplomat and claimed she had "tremendous
hate in her heart" for voters. He positioned three women in front-row
seats in the debate hall who alleged that Clinton disparaged them for claiming
that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had made unwanted sexual
advances toward them two decades ago.
"Okay,
Donald, I know you’re into big diversion tonight,” she retorted at one point.
“Anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it’s exploding and
the way Republicans are leaving you.”
Numerous
Republican elected officials abandoned Trump's candidacy in the last few days
after hearing the 2005 tape. Some retracted their earlier endorsements of his
candidacy, while others called for him to drop out of the race to become the
country's 45th president, replacing President Barack Obama when he leaves
office in late January.
Trump says there
is "zero chance" that he will quit the campaign.
http://www.voanews.com/a/second-trump-clinton-debate-unlikely-to-affect-her-edge-/3544270.html