Nearly half of Britons would vote for Hillary Clinton, however, and a similar number expect her to win

He has lurched from crisis to crisis, insulted the world and been repeatedly accused of racism and sexual assault – but more than one in 10 Britons would still vote for Donald Trump, a new poll has revealed.

An Opinium/Observer poll has found 12% of UK adults would vote for the Republican candidate if they were able to take part in next Tuesday’s presidential election, compared with 49% for Hillary Clinton.

Opinium surveyed 2,001 adults between 1 and 4 November, a week in which polls narrowed amid the fallout from the FBI’s decision to review a new batch of Clinton’s staff’s emails.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, men are more than twice as likely to support Trump, with 16% expressing a preference for him compared with just 8% of women. However, in a reflection of both candidates’ underlying unpopularity, almost a third of respondents (32%) said they would not vote for either.

The findings also suggest that the election is widely considered a foregone conclusion despite a late surge in support for Trump: 48% of UK adults expect Clinton to win the presidency, while 18% think a Trump victory is most likely.

Of supporters of the major UK parties, only among Ukip voters did supporters of Trump outnumber those of Clinton: 43% of the party’s voters would back the divisive billionaire, who has enlisted the support of Nigel Farage and compared his campaign to the Brexit movement.

The survey shows the Democratic candidate soundly beating Trump on a range of issues, including relations with Britain and global security. The Republican candidate, who has praised Vladimir Putin and suggested the US could withdraw from Nato under his presidency, is deemed a risk to international stability by 62% of Britons.

Similarly, few voters believe a Trump victory would be good for Britain’s so-called special relationship with the US. Just 16% of those surveyed said he would be a friend to the UK as president, compared with 41% for Clinton. Meanwhile, 53% think the British government should seek to improve its relationships with countries other than the US if Trump wins.

Widespread dislike for Trump among the British public is also reflected by the words most commonly associated with the candidate. Dangerous (71%) was the most common word, followed by hate (61%) and fear (60%). Clinton inspires a more positive reaction. According to the poll, she is most associated with intelligence (58%), maturity (55%), and competence (50%).