US women rally against Donald Trump

Chicago, Oct 19: Crowds of women converged on Chicago's Trump Tower in the latest of a string of protests over Donald Trump's incendiary comments on women, brandishing signs saying "Real men get consent".

Protesters in Chicago and Philadelphia yesterday, and a day earlier in New York, have been pushing back after the Republican nominee was caught, in a 2005 video, bragging that fame lets him grope women without their consent.

"Just the fact that he's normalizing rape culture... is not cool with us," said Kristin Marks, one of the mostly-female crowd gathered outside skyscraper, emblazoned with Trump's name, in downtown Chicago.

Blair Westover, who voted for Republicans George W. Bush and John McCain in the previous elections, said she would be voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton this year though she disagrees with her on many issues.

"This isn't just like another 'gate' or a scandal," she said. "This is a presidential nominee advocating un-consensual sexual contact, in public to other people, and that's not something that we should come to accept as part of the debate".

With just three weeks until Election Day, polls show Trump struggling with women voters following the release of the tape, which triggered a stream of allegations of sexual misconduct.

Women voters in 13 battleground states -- where the election is likely to be decided -- prefer Clinton over Trump by 15 points, according to the latest CBS News poll. Clinton led by only five points a month ago.

Trump has apologized for the crude remarks caught on tape, but also minimized them as "locker room talk." His wife Melania also shrugged them off in a CNN interview, characterizing them as "boy talk."

AFP