it was donald j. trump <u+2019>s chance to sound contrite and mature, to explain away the sexually predatory boasts he was caught making on tape and to persuade americans that <u+2014> for all his no-apologies braggadocio <u+2014> he was, in fact, capable of feeling shame. maura cotter, 22, a senior at the university of notre dame, was shocked at what mr. trump did instead in sunday<u+2019>s debate: repeat, over and over, that what he had said on the 2005 recording, about forcing himself on women and grabbing their genitals, was simply <u+201c>locker-room banter.<u+201d> it was, ms. cotter said, <u+201c>not an apology <u+2014> no reason to believe he<u+2019>s changed at all.<u+201d> a classmate, abigail wilson, who is a registered republican, listened closely to mr. trump and was reminded, she said, of the time she was groped by a stranger. the republican nominee, she said soberly, <u+201c>may not have physically harmed anyone with his words, but he has the power to do so by example.<u+201d> whether they love mr. trump or loathe him, many female voters interviewed across the country seemed to watch sunday<u+2019>s historically nasty debate through the same inescapable prism: a raunchy three-minute recording in which mr. trump told of kissing and touching women however he pleased. <u+201c>when you<u+2019>re a star, they let you do it,<u+201d> he said, loud and clear, on the tape. that is mr. trump<u+2019>s new, agonizing and self-created reality: he may have uttered words about unfair trade deals or threats to national security, but what these voters heard instead was his voice on that searing recording, casually and excitedly explaining that he could sexually assault strangers with impunity. some said they were so upset by what they had seen <u+2014> over and over <u+2014> that they could barely bring themselves to turn on the television and watch him in the debate. others dismissed the tape as entirely beside the point, a decade-old distraction with no bearing on the presidency. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re all human,<u+201d> said gayle mason, 73, a retired kindergarten teacher and a republican in west covina, calif., who watched the debate on fox news over iced tea. <u+201c>when he becomes president, you<u+2019>re not going to see stuff like that.<u+201d> but on this, the voters interviewed all agreed: the sound of mr. trump at his most obscene lingered over sunday night<u+2019>s confrontation like an unbudging cloud. several voters tuned in for the sole purpose of watching mr. trump explain his lasciviousness aboard the <u+201c>access hollywood<u+201d> bus. joey elliott, 63, who lives in south bend, ind., said she wanted <u+201c>to see how he tries to squirm out of it.<u+201d> from the debate<u+2019>s opening moments, mrs. clinton grabbed hold of the recording and turned it into a rhetorical battering ram. in a measured but firm tone, she seized on mr. trump<u+2019>s claim that the tape did not really represent who he was. <u+201c>i think it<u+2019>s clear to anyone who heard it,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>it represents exactly who he is.<u+201d> it was a striking and singular tableau: a male candidate for president being asked, by the first woman to share such a stage, to defend crude comments in which he had seemed to reduce her gender to its anatomy. despite his best efforts, mr. trump could not quickly put the issue to rest. a moderator, anderson cooper, pressed him about the tape four times, wondering if mr. trump understood the gravity of what he had said, and whether he had ever carried out the lewd actions he had described. no, mr. trump said. eventually, the debate moved on. after saying he was sorry but doing little to demonstrate remorse, mr. trump instead sought to turn the ugliest phase of his campaign into an attack on bill clinton<u+2019>s past sexual trespasses <u+2014> by turning mrs. clinton into a wife who had abided, aided and abetted her husband<u+2019>s misdeeds. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that<u+2019>s been so abusive to women,<u+201d> mr. trump said, minimizing his behavior as language, not actions. <u+201c>don<u+2019>t tell me about words.<u+201d> rarely has gender played such a significant role in a presidential debate. the candidates on the general-election stage, until now, were always men, and discussion of the sexes tended to be perfunctory. but sunday night was different. sex was a cudgel, a motif, a backdrop. it was never out of the picture. and the dynamics between the man and the woman onstage played out in powerful and unexpected ways. at one point, mrs. clinton deferred to mr. trump on a question about the future of president obama<u+2019>s signature health legislation, the affordable care act. mr. trump tried a moment of male chivalry. <u+201c>no, i<u+2019>m a gentleman, hillary,<u+201d> mr. trump said, with a dramatic sweep of his arm. <u+201c>go ahead.<u+201d> and with each response, mrs. clinton stepped toward voters in the audience, paying little mind to mr. trump<u+2019>s personal space, as if seeking to rattle mr. trump merely by being a woman unbound, free to roam where she pleased, as a nation watched. in nearly two dozen interviews conducted in person and by telephone during the debate, women expressed deep reservations about mr. trump<u+2019>s demeanor, interruptions and, above all, the dismissive manner with which he brushed aside the recording in which he casually bragged about assaulting women. diane crawford, 62, a resident of greenfield, iowa, was struck by how eagerly mr. trump sought to change the subject to mrs. clinton<u+2019>s spouse and his infidelities. <u+201c>he just kept throwing bill clinton in there,<u+201d> she said, <u+201c>and bill clinton is not running for president.<u+201d> a skeptic of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s heading into the debate, ms. crawford said she had changed her mind during those tense exchanges. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m not hesitant any longer to support hillary,<u+201d> ms. crawford said. <u+201c>she showed her leadership ability with her response.<u+201d> karyn sloas, 48, an independent in knoxville, tenn., said she had planned to vote for mr. trump until she heard about the recording on social media over the weekend. she was repulsed. she thought of the example that mr. trump had set for her 16-year-old daughter and her 18-year-old son. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t want him to think it<u+2019>s o.k. to talk that way,<u+201d> ms. sloas said. the tape was a breaking point for donna stevens, too. an independent in suburban valley cottage, n.y., she was leaning toward voting for mr. trump. then she watched the recording. <u+201c>what he said was appalling,<u+201d> she said. for mr. trump, sunday night<u+2019>s early focus on the 2005 tape was the culmination of a remarkable series of provocations against women. his first appearance in a primary debate, in august 2015, had led to a highly public <u+2014> and deeply sexualized <u+2014> attack against a woman, megyn kelly, when he suggested that ms. kelly, a fox news anchor who was among the moderators, had been menstruating when she asked him tough questions. he went on to mock the appearance of a female rival, carly fiorina. and he accused mrs. clinton of playing <u+201c>the woman card<u+201d> in her primary, suggesting that she expected to prevail simply because of her sex. now, in the final weeks of the campaign, it is mr. trump whose campaign is imperiled by his careless approach to gender. on sunday, ms. sloas in knoxville waited for mr. trump to redeem himself in her eyes, by displaying real regret for his treatment of women on the recording. <u+201c>he<u+2019>d have to show true remorse,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>we, and i mean <u+2018>we,<u+2019> as in america, would have to see remorse.<u+201d> all night, she said, he failed to demonstrate it. <u+201c>i wanted to hear <u+2018>i was wrong,<u+2019><u+201d> ms. sloas said, minutes after the debate had concluded. <u+201c>i didn<u+2019>t get that.<u+201d> reporting was contributed by yamiche alcindor, sarah maslin nir, sara olkon and rebecca raney. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter . a version of this news analysis appears in print on october 10, 2016, on page a1 of the new york edition with the headline: for some women, words on bus echo louder than talk onstage. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
donald trump talks at debate, but many women hear only a 2005 tape
michael barbaro amy chozick