The Note: Clinton Vaults to Double-Digit Lead in New ABC News Poll

ByABC News
October 23, 2016, 11:43 AM

— -- NOTABLES

--POLL: AS VOTERS INCREASINGLY DISAPPROVE OF TRUMP CONTROVERSIES, CLINTON STRETCHES LEAD: Hillary Clinton has vaulted to a double-digit advantage in the inaugural ABC News 2016 election tracking poll, boosted by broad disapproval of Donald Trump on two controversial issues: His treatment of women and his reluctance to endorse the election’s legitimacy, ABC’s GARY LANGER reports. Likely voters by a vast 69-24 percent disapprove of Trump’s response to questions about his treatment of women. After a series of allegations of past sexual misconduct, the poll finds that some women who’d initially given him the benefit of the doubt have since moved away. Fifty-nine percent of likely voters, moreover, reject Trump’s suggestion that the election is rigged in Clinton’s favor, and more, 65 percent, disapprove of his refusal to say whether he’d accept a Clinton victory as legitimate. Most strongly disapprove, a relatively rare result. All told, Clinton leads Trump by 12 percentage points among likely voters, 50 to 38 percent, in the national survey, her highest support and his lowest to date in ABC News and ABC News/Washington Post polls. Gary Johnson has 5 percent support, Jill Stein 2 percent. http://abcn.ws/2ejIDLV

--DONALD TRUMP VOWS TO SUE SEXUAL ASSAULT ACCUSERS, LAYS OUT PLAN FOR FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE: Donald Trump kicked off a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania about his plan for his first 100 days as president by announcing that he will sue every woman who has accused him of sexual assault. "Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. Total fabrication," the Republican presidential nominee said Saturday afternoon. "The [alleged] events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over." Speaking near the historic Gettysburg Battlefield on a brisk day in the Keystone State, Trump also launched attacks on the "dishonest" media, the "rigged" political system and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. He questioned why Clinton was even allowed to run due to her handling of emails as secretary of state, ABC’s MORGAN WINSOR, KATHERINE FAULDERS and JOHN SANTUCCI report. "The system is also rigged because Hillary Clinton should have been precluded from running for the presidency of the United States, but the FBI and the Justice Department covered up her crimes," Trump said. http://abcn.ws/2dwzPR4

--ERIC TRUMP ON FATHER’S THREAT TO SUE ACCUSERS: 'MY FATHER’S A FIGHTER’: Eric Trump commented on his father's vow to sue every woman who has accused him of sexual misconduct, saying, "He's a fighter ... and he believes in calling out right and wrong." "My father's a guy who will fight. He'll fight for this country. And he's always fought for himself and, quite frankly, throughout this whole process he's needed to fight for himself," the son of the Republican presidential nominee told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on “This Week,” ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL reports. http://abcn.ws/2ecUWpt

CLINTON FIRES BACK AT TRUMP’S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, THREAT TO SUE ACCUSERS: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton today criticized her Republican rival, Donald Trump, for threatening to sue the women. Clinton made the remarks with her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, aboard her campaign plane, ABC’s JESSICA HOPPER and JOSH HASKELL report. The two are in the midst of a joint campaign swing through the battleground state of Pennsylvania. "I saw where our opponent Donald Trump went to Gettysburg, one of the most extraordinary places in in American history, and basically said if he's president he will spend his time suing women who have made charges against him based on his behavior," Clinton said. "Tim and I are going to keep talking about what we want do if we're given the great honor of serving as president and vice president." Earlier today, Trump spoke in Gettysburg, site of a three-day battle seen as the turning point of the Civil War, to give what his campaign billed as a plan for his first 100 days in office. He also attacked Clinton and his accusers. http://abcn.ws/2evCcSL

EVAN MCMULLIN SAYS GOP LEADERS ARE ‘PUTTING PARTY OVER PRINCIPLE’: Riding a surge of support in polls in Utah, independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin said he feels "very good" about his chances of winning the state, and accused the nation's Republican leaders of putting the interests of their party ahead of conservative principles and the good of the country, ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL reports. "The reality is that the vast majority of Republican leaders are putting party ahead of principle and putting power over the interests of their own country," McMullin told George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on ABC's "This Week." http://abcn.ws/2ekRcpJ

THIS MORNING ON ‘THIS WEEK’: With just over two weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump discussed his father’s campaign for the White House, only on “This Week” Sunday. Clinton campaign chief strategist Joel Benenson weighs in on the state of the 2016 race. Plus, can an independent candidate win the deep-red state of Utah? Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin makes his case, Sunday on “This Week.” And, Martha Raddatz is on the ground in Iraq to talk with Defense Secretary Ash Carter about the battle to reclaim Mosul. And the Powerhouse Roundtable debates the week in politics, with ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, Republican strategist and CNBC contributor Sara Fagen, National Review senior editor Jonah Goldberg, Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, and editor and publisher of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel.

NOTED: CLINTON’S STRATEGIST REBUTS CLAIMS DEMOCRATS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR VIOLENCE AT TRUMP RALLIES: Hillary Clinton’s chief strategist and pollster refuted claims that Democrats are responsible for inciting violence at Donald Trump's campaign rallies, saying the blame lays squarely on the rhetoric of the GOP candidate, ABC’s MARGARET CHADBOURN reports.“Donald Trump, day after day, on the stump, was inciting people,” Joel Benenson told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.” "We have video of Donald Trump saying, 'punch him in the mouth. I want him carried out on a stretcher.'” Over the past week, Trump frequently referred to a secretly recorded video recently released by conservative activist James O'Keefe's Project Veritas Action. The highly edited video appears to show a Democratic operative bragging about deploying troublemakers at Trump rallies. http://abcn.ws/2ed5nJW

WHAT WE’RE READING -- 40 PERCENT OF AMERICANS SAY NEITHER CANDIDATE IS FUNNY: Aside from the qualifications and policy proposals of the two major-party presidential nominees, Americans say it's important that the country's next president has a sense of humor, ABC’s RACHEL TILLMAN writes. But 40 percent said neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton is funny. The two candidates took turns making jokes and jabbing at each other at Thursday's Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner in New York City, a tradition for presidential candidates every four years, although this year's event had an edgier tone. ABC News partnered with SSRS survey research firm to ask Americans how important it is for the next president to have ’a sense of humor. http://abcn.ws/2euahny

-- IN CASE YOU MISSED IT -- SNL SATIRIZES THIRD DEBATE: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton continue to provide "Saturday Night Live" with plenty of fodder. Tonight's episode spoofed last Wednesday's third and final presidential debate in Las Vegas, which was moderated by Fox News' Chris Wallace. Guest host Tom Hanks played Wallace. As in weeks past, Alec Baldwin and "SNL" cast member Kate McKinnon impersonated Trump and Clinton, zeroing in on the most eccentric and quirky aspects of their behavior. http://abcn.ws/2eiXpQA

--PHOTO --THE MOMENT CLINTON LEARNED THE CUBS ARE WORLD-SERIES BOUND: Nick Merrill snapped the photo Saturday night onboard the campaign plane, where Clinton -- who was raised in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge -- was handed a phone and watched highlights from the game. http://abcn.ws/2eiU9Ve

WHO’S TWEETING?

@antnydibernardo: Last time the #Cubs won the pennant:- WWII had just ended- John Lennon was 5 years old. - The NBA had yet to have been established.

@NewYorker: The New Yorker endorses Hillary Clinton: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/31/the-new-yorker-endorses-hillary-clinton?mbid=social_twitter

@senatorshoshana: Reince says media overhypes Trump, he “eats cornflakes” and the media covers it all day.

@ThisWeekABC: .@jonkarl: “Democratic chances of winning the Senate have gone up as Donald Trump’s campaign has gone down.” #ThisWeek

@WSJPolitics: Meet Donald Trump’s unlikely Muslim cheerleadershttp://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-garners-unlikely-muslim-cheerleaders-1476967732

@PhilipRucker: Buoyed by rising polls, Clinton shifts to a new target: The House and Senate. Today’s A1 w/ @edatpost @mikdebonis https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/buoyed-by-rising-polls-clinton-shifts-to-a-new-target-the-house-and-senate/2016/10/22/9c717070-97c3-11e6-bb29-bf2701dbe0a3_story.html