The Note: Trump’s Most Enthusiastic Supporters Less Likely to Stand by Their Man

— -- COUNTDOWN TO ELECTION DAY: 23 DAYS

NOTABLES

--POLL: ENTHUSIASM FOR TRUMP FADES, YET PARTISANSHIP KEEPS IT CLOSE: Enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s candidacy has fallen, two-thirds of registered voters reject his claim not to have made unwanted sexual advances toward women and Hillary Clinton’s support has firmed in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. Yet the race between them remains close, a testament to the strong pull of partisan preferences, ABC’s GARY LANGER reports. The contest stands at 47-43 percent, Clinton-Trump, among likely voters, with 5 percent support for Gary Johnson and 2 percent for the Green Party’s Jill Stein if the election were today. That’s little changed from 46-44 percent in the last ABC/Post poll, conducted just ahead of the first debate and before the firestorm of controversy that’s erupted over Trump’s treatment of women. http://abcn.ws/2e4zrb1

--TIM KAINE BLASTS DONALD TRUMP’S RIGGED-ELECTION CLAIM AS ‘SCARE TACTICS’: Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine slammed Donald Trump's recent claims that the election is rigged as "scare tactics." "Donald Trump has kind of started to go wilder and wilder," Kaine told ABC’s Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week,” ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL reports. “He started to make wild claims, kind of scorched-earth claims about the election being rigged ... He shouldn't be engaging in those scare tactics." Trump has warned supporters that the election is not being conducted fairly, telling a crowd in New Hampshire Saturday, "Remember, it's a rigged system. It's a rigged election. We're gonna beat the rigged system. We're gonna beat the rigged election." http://abcn.ws/2ej1VuW

--NEWT GINGRICH BACKS RIGGED ELECTION CLAIM, SAYS VOTERS SHOULD MONITOR POLLING SITES: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stood by Republican nominee Donald Trump's claim that the election is being "rigged," blaming what he calls "the unending one-sided assault of the news media" on the GOP candidate, ABC’s NICKI ROSSOLL reports. "Without the unending one-sided assault of the news media, Trump would be beating Hillary Clinton by 15 points," Gingrich said. “So to suggest to us that people who are concerned about honest elections are somehow nutty, I think is a mistake,” he said.Gingrich emphasized that the rigging is not at the local level: "This is not about election officials at the precinct level," he said. Nevertheless, he said voters should monitor polling stations as Trump has encouraged because past elections have been "stolen." http://abcn.ws/2ej4kWE

MORE FROM GINGRICH: 'IT’S STUPID' FOR TRUMP TO ATTACK HIS ACCUSERS’ LOOKS: In reference to the claims of sexual assault against Trump, Gingrich said he thinks it's “stupid” for Trump to attack the looks of his accusers. Gingrich said, “I’ve said this publicly, there’s a big Trump and there’s a little Trump. The big Trump is a historic figure. The big Trump beat 16 other people for the nomination. The big Trump is creating issues that make the establishment very uncomfortable,” the former House speaker said. “The little Trump frankly gets out -- is stupid. I mean, that comment just then is dumb. And I don’t defend him when he wanders off, I’ve told him over and over.” http://abcn.ws/2ej4kWE

THIS MORNING ON ‘THIS WEEK’: With less than one month to Election Day, Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine and Trump supporter and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared on “This Week” Sunday. Plus, former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus weighed in on the greatest foreign policy challenges for the next commander-in-chief. And the Powerhouse Roundtable debates the week in politics, with New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor, Washington Post chief correspondent Dan Balz, ABC News contributor LZ Granderson, and ABC News contributor and Republican strategist and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson.

--NOTED: HACKED PODESTA EMAILS REVEAL CLINTON GOLDMAN SACHS TRANSCRIPTS: For the eighth day in a row, Wikileaks released hundreds of purportedly hacked emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's account. Included in this batch were three transcripts of speeches Clinton gave to Goldman Sachs, as well as comments she made at a union meeting. Here are the highlights There was no "smoking gun" in these transcripts, but they do show Clinton's rhetoric on Wall Street is slightly tougher on the campaign trail than it is in private, ABC’s LIZ KREUTZ, ALEX MALLIN and ALANA ABRAMSON report. On the trail, Clinton has invoked the need to "crack down" on banks. "We can't ever let Wall Street wreck main street again and we put some good strong regulations on the banks after the great recession," she said earlier in the month in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. But in an October 2013 speech, Clinton spoke of the need to strike a balance on regulating the industry. "There's nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad. How do you get to the golden key, how do we figure out what works?" she said. http://abcn.ws/2eaTN0k

--WHAT WE’RE READING: NEARLY 40 PERCENT OF AMERICANS REPORT TENSION WITH FAMILY OR FRIENDS OVER ELECTION: Nearly 40 percent of Americans have experienced tension with friends or family over the 2016 presidential election. Together with SSRS, a survey research firm, ABC News asked voters how often they discuss the presidential election with relatives or friends and whether the subject causes any friction. Ninety percent of Americans talk about the presidential race often with friends or family, the survey shows, ABC’s RACHEL TILLMAN writes. Of those, 58 percent discuss the election very often, and 32 percent somewhat often. Only 4 percent never talk about the presidential election.Thirty-seven percent of respondents said the 2016 race has caused tension with relatives or friends. http://abcn.ws/2e8pXMV

--IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: ‘SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’ POKES FUN AT TRUMP, CLINTON BEHAVIOR DURING SECOND DEBATE: Once again, the presidential election has provided "Saturday Night Live" with plenty of fodder. Last night's episode poked fun at last week's presidential debate, including the lack of a handshake between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at the start of the debate, Trump's proclivity to hover behind Clinton as she spoke, and the emergence of undecided voter Ken Bone as an internet superstar, ABC’s DAVID CAPLAN writes. Alec Baldwin and "SNL" cast member Kate McKinnon reprised their roles as Trump and Clinton. http://abcn.ws/2edXmYo

WHO’S TWEETING?

@KThomasDC: .@timkaine on Trump: “He is swinging at every phantom of his own imagination because he knows he’s losing.” @ThisWeekABC

@eliseviebeck: CNN and NBC have security guards protecting their reporters at Trump rallies http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/us/politics/trump-media-attacks.html?_r=0

@JohnJHarwood: behind Clinton’s 11-pt lead over Trump in new NBC/WSJ poll: she’s +6 with college-educated white women, tied with college-educaed white men

@Reddy: I can’t remember a time when TV anchors looked so distraught and exhausted discussing political news of the day. Capturing a nation’s mood.

@mateagold: Interactive graphic: Clinton and Trump’s demographic tug of war, with new Post-ABC poll datahttps://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/the-demographic-groups-fueling-the-election/

@emily_cohn: Only 12 of an estimated 22,450 people employed at Trump’s companies have donated more than $200 to his campaign. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-donations-idUSKCN12D12V