‘It’s distasteful and it doesn’t stop’

When Donald Trump challenged Hillary Clinton’s stamina on the debate stage, Pennsylvania voter Patricia Bennett said she heard a “dog whistle” that smacked of unmistakable sexism.

“Why doesn’t he just say that she needs more testosterone?” said Bennett, a 69-year-old independent from the Philadelphia suburbs who plans to vote for Clinton in November.

Across the country, Lisa Lowe, a Colorado Democrat who was lukewarm about Clinton before the debate, said Trump behaved like a “negative bully.”

Kris Stotler, an undecided Virginia Republican, was disappointed by Trump’s jarring criticism of a former beauty queen’s weight, comments Clinton forcefully condemned during the faceoff. “It’s incredibly distasteful, and it doesn’t stop,” Stotler, 48, said of Trump. “Even if you thought that, why would you say that?”

Bennett, Lowe and Stotler were among two dozen female voters from battleground states who spoke to AP. Nearly all expressed concerns with Trump’s critical and often demeaning comments about women, as well as his approach towards Clinton in the debate.

The concerns were shared, too, by some women who plan to vote for Trump in November, though his supporters were far more forgiving in their assessments.

“He needs to be more careful, but he needs to be who he is,” said Lilia Morraz, a 58-year-old Republican from Miami. “Sometimes the truth hurts.”

While Clinton has held a lead in preference polls among female voters throughout her general election contest with Trump, she aims to widen that margin as much as possible to offset her weakness with men. She also needs to urgently energise younger female voters, who have been more sceptical of the first woman nominated for the White House by a major US political party.

Clinton’s team believes it has all the ammunition it needs to rally women in the campaign’s closing weeks.

That’s due in part to strong execution by Clinton, who arrived at the debate armed with numerous past statements Trump has made about women.

But Trump also did himself few favours. He interrupted Clinton repeatedly during the debate.