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For Clinton, a daily dose of faith

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Gender inescapable at campaign’s close

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Kathryn Doherty would never date the likes of Donald Trump and jokes that if her daughter did, she&#8217;d send her to a convent. But he&#8217;ll get the 76-year-old retiree&#8217;s vote for president.</p><p>&#8220;Well I&#8217;m displeased, terribly, and I&#8217;m certainly not in love with his personality,&#8221; said Doherty, who lives in Yardley. &#8220;But I think he would do a good job for the country. And quite honestly, Hillary&#8217;s stolen so much, taken so much, lied so much, cheated so much, I can&#8217;t have that.&#8221;</p><p>Here in Pennsylvania&#8217;s battleground counties &#8212; and in nearby coal country, the heart of Trumpland &#8212; potential voters in this crucial state are grappling with new waves of incriminating information, including allegations of sexual assault against Trump and new hacked emails from his rival, Hillary Clinton.</p><p>As they weigh two already historically unpopular candidates, many see the election as a grim choice. But interviews with more than two dozen voters in the state also suggest that many even lukewarm Trump supporters are standing by their candidate, despite assumptions he&#8217;s in freefall.</p><p>Speaking over soup, Doherty said she doesn&#8217;t like Trump&#8217;s talk about women, as captured in a 2005 video in which he bragged about imposing himself on them.</p><p>&#8220;Believe me, I would never date anybody like him,&#8221; she said. </p><p>In Wilkes-Barre, where Trump-Pence lawn signs now decorate residential streets alongside jack-o&#8217;-lanterns, support for Trump is even stronger. Even outside his fervent rallies, voters repeatedly dismissed the video and assault allegations as a coordinated media assault in cahoots with the Clinton campaign.</p><p>&#8220;He talks like we think,&#8221; said Kathy Baxter, 76, a lifelong Democrat who lives in nearby White Haven and changed her party registration so she could vote for Trump in the GOP primary.</p><p>Baxter, who serves as a caretaker for her handicapped daughter, dismissed the hubbub over the video remarks as &#8220;silly&#8221; considering how much is at stake.</p><p>&#8220;Every guy says that, as far as I know, you know what I mean?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;That&#8217;s their nature. They talk like that.&#8221; As for Clinton, she said: &#8220;The lying and the emails and the everything &#8212; that should be brought up more than somebody saying something like he said.&#8221;</p><p>Still others remain paralyzed by indecision with just over three weeks to go before Election Day.</p><p>Republican Anne Snyder, a nurse in Sugarloaf Township, says she&#8217;s considering not voting for the first time because she just can&#8217;t stomach the candidates.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what I&#8217;m going to do,&#8221; said Snyder, 63. &#8220;I really think I cannot in good conscience vote for Trump, but I&#8217;m not a Hillary supporter either.&#8221;</p><p>And for some, the latest revelations have indeed been the final straw.</p><p>Robert Henson had been planning to cross party lines to vote for Donald Trump until he saw that 2005 tape of Trump bragging about groping women.</p><p>&#8220;I watched it a couple times, &#8216;cause I couldn&#8217;t believe he&#8217;d said things like that,&#8221; said Henson, of Pittston, Pennsylvania. &#8220;You know, especially a rich person like that, somebody in the public eye. And he&#8217;s got daughters.&#8221; The 54-year old father and retired retail manager had had enough.</p><p>&#8220;That just ruined it for me,&#8221; he said. As for Clinton? &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to vote for her either,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be a rough one.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Bangor, Maine, on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_113015670-dbd45052f5114ba78b9f4e2c843faf00-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Bangor, Maine, on Saturday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jill Colvin</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Many Trump supporters remain loyal