have been at the center of the most destructive two - month period of his campaign , when he has faced multiple accusations of unwanted sexual advances against women and blowback over his vulgar comments on a hot microphone about forcing himself on women sexually . He now trails Clinton by a wide margin in nearly all national and battleground state polls , and party leaders fear it is too late for him to recover . For the GOP , the debates have amounted to an enormous missed opportunity to mount its case against Clinton , which has been years in the making and which many Republicans were once confident would be their key to victory .
While GOP nominee Donald Trump Donald TrumpLewandowski near ' high six - figure book deal ' : report GOP fires opening attack on Dem reportedly running for Heller 's Senate seat Overnight Tech : Trump seeks tech 's help for ' sweeping ' IT overhaul | FTC looks to block sports fantasy merger | Firm exposes nearly 200 M voters ' data MORE debatescontact.negotiate.meetwith his campaign staff about whether to keep insulting a former Miss Universe , a profound and serious contest has begun between former Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersSanders to GOP on healthcare bill : ' What are you afraid of ? ' Dems step up attacks on GOP ObamaCare bill Live coverage : Senate Dems hold talkathon to protest GOP health plan MORE and Libertarian nominee Gary JohnsonGary JohnsonMueller to give first speech since taking on Russia probe Poll : 85 percent of Clinton supporters would vote for her again Open primaries are the answer to America ’s election woes — so what are we waiting for ? MORE to win the votes of millennials .