Donald Trump has fallen further behind Hillary Clinton and now trails her by eight points among likely voters, with one in five Republicans saying his vulgar comments about groping women disqualify him from the presidency.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos national 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 apologised 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.
Trump was under pressure during Sunday's debate to restore confidence in his struggling campaign after dozens of lawmakers repudiated him. 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 per cent said Clinton won while 32 per cent said Trump won. The results fell along partisan lines, however: 82 per cent of Democrats felt Clinton won, while 68 per cent of Republicans felt that Trump won.
Among likely voters who watched the debate, 48 pe rcent said they supported Clinton while 38 percent supported Trump.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states.
