Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are seen in undated file photos.
Poll numbers for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are falling amid a storm of controversy after audio tapes revealed the GOP candidate making sexually aggressive comments before a 2005 television appearance.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading Trump by about 4.5 points nationally - 47.5 percent to 42.9 percent - according to RealClearPolitics averages. Clinton is leading Trump in every major poll except one, the LA Times/USC Tracking poll conducted Oct. 2-8, which has Trump with a 3 point lead. The remainder of the polls used in the average - including Fox News, Quinnipiac, Reuters, CNN and CBS News - has Clinton with a lead of between 4 and 7 points.
If Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein are factored in, the numbers change slightly with Clinton at 44.2 percent, Trump at 40.5 percent, Johnson at 6.9 percent and Stein at 2.4 percent.
Clinton's numbers were strongest among women, nonwhite voters and a growing number of independents, a group heavily courted by Trump.
The numbers come as Trump's campaign is reeling from the leak of the decade-old audio tape that has drawn a growing number of calls for the GOP nominee to step aside. The tape includes lewd comments from Trump, including some that indicate aggressive sexual behavior.
Trump has apologized for the comments.
The audio comes just as the two presidential frontrunners ready for their second debate Sunday night. Trump's campaign has indicated it will take a more aggressive stance at the debate, including bringing up Bill Clinton's sexual transgressions during his political career.
Changing odds
Political prediction site FiveThirtyEight.com gives Clinton an 81.3 percent chance of winning the White House compared to Trump's 18.7 percent, a precipitous drop from recent weeks that showed the two virtually tied.
The site forecasts Clinton with 328.7 electoral votes to Trump's 209.2, winning 49 percent of the popular vote to Trump's 43.3 percent. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win.