Tiny cracks have appeared in evangelical support for Donald Trump over the video of his sexually predatory comments about women.

Key points: Some prominent evangelists withdrawing support for Trump

Some prominent evangelists withdrawing support for Trump Trump drawing 70% of white evangelical vote, says poll

Trump drawing 70% of white evangelical vote, says poll 3/4 of white evangelicals cite dislike for Clinton for preferring Trump, says survey

Among those reversing course was well-known theologian Wayne Grudem, whose endorsement was widely cited by other Christians backing the Republican presidential nominee.

Popular evangelist and author Beth Moore tweeted that she was among many women who had been sexually abused or harassed, and "we're tired of it".

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That behaviour, she warned, becomes more acceptable "when some Christian leaders don't think it's that big a deal".

Katelyn Beaty, author of A Woman's Place and a former managing editor at Christianity Today magazine, said Ms Moore's comments indicated evangelical women were becoming more wary of Mr Trump, "especially as it relates to the ways he consistently talks about and treats women".

However Mr Trump's backing from conservative Christians, which has confounded many inside and outside evangelicalism, seems to be holding for now at least among his most prominent endorsers.

James Dobson, of Family Talk radio, condemned Mr Trump's comments, but called Mrs Clinton's support for abortion rights "criminal".

"Mr Trump promises to support religious liberty and the dignity of the unborn. Mrs Clinton promises she will not," Dobson said.

Jerry Falwell Jr, president of Christian academic institution Liberty University, said Mr Trump's remarks were "reprehensible".

However Mr Falwell said the US was "never going to have a perfect candidate" and suggested the video leak was engineered by Trump's enemies in his own party.

Sorry, this video has expired Republicans struggle to contain Donald Trump's scandal-struck campaign.

"I think it was timed," Mr Falwell said.

"I think it might have even been a conspiracy, you know, among the establishment Republicans who've known about it for weeks and who tried to time it to do the maximum damage."

On the video released, Mr Trump is heard describing attempts to have sex with a married woman and bragging that women let him grab their genitals because he is famous.

Responding to the leak, Mr Trump said, "I was wrong" to make those comments, but dismissed them as "locker room talk".

Trump drawing 70 per cent of white evangelical vote

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 1 m Donald Trump recorded having lewd conversation about women in 2005

Evangelical support for Mr Trump has been one of the more baffling trends this election year.

Mr Trump — a casino mogul who has been married three times — said he did not need to ask God for forgiveness, mocked a disabled reporter and alluded to his penis size during a debate.

Early on, prominent evangelicals, including Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Christian author Max Lucado, warned evangelicals against Mr Trump.

Still, as the year progressed and the large pool of GOP primary contenders dwindled, it became clear that white conservative Christians were coalescing behind the candidate.

Recent polls show the GOP presidential nominee drawing about 70 per cent of the white evangelical vote.

Although some evangelicals defended Mr Trump's character, many couched their endorsements in pragmatic terms, focused on Mr Trump's promise that he will appoint conservative justices to the US Supreme Court.

In a recent Pew Research Center survey, more than three quarters of white evangelicals cited dislike for Mrs Clinton as a major reason they prefer Mr Trump.

At a Liberty University schoolwide assembly, Mr Falwell put the focus on Mrs Clinton's record, deeming it much more of a threat than Mr Trump's predatory remarks.

Mr Falwell said five years from now, "nobody is going to remember" what the Republican nominee said.

AP