Donald Trump’s ailing presidential campaign suffered yet another blow on Wednesday, when the size of his hands – a recurring, sensitive issue for the 70-year-old – was made public.

An imprint of Trump’s left hand was found on display at Madame Tussaud’s New York wax museum by the Hollywood Reporter. Using a measuring apparatus, the Reporter found the hand to be a mere 7.25 inches – compared to the average male hand size of 7.44 inches.

The revelation threatens to further destabilize Trump’s efforts to be president. Notoriously thin-skinned – he most recently insulted the Muslim parents of an American war hero – Trump has been insisting he has “normal” hands for years. The furore regarding the self-described billionaire’s appendages even spilled over into a Republican presidential debate in March, when Trump inferred his hand size did not mean he had a small penis.

Claire Severson. Photograph: Adam Gabbatt

Whether that is accurate or not, on Wednesday afternoon some Madame Tussaud’s attendees were shocked as they compared their hands to Trump’s.

“It’s pretty small,” said Claire Severson, 22.

“It’s about the same size as mine and I have a small hand. It’s tiny.”

Severson, who looked to be around 5ft 7in tall, declared herself “rather surprised” at the size of Trump’s hand, which is cast in bronze. The good news for Trump, who trailed Clinton by nine points in a CNN/ORC poll released Monday, is that Severson said hand size would not influence her decision at the ballot box.

“I’m not going to vote for him,” she said. “But not due to the size of his hand.”

The controversy over the size of Trump’s hands dates back to the 1980s, when journalist Graydon Carter referred to the billionaire as a “short-fingered vulgarian” in Spy magazine. In 2015 Carter revealed that Trump has been sporadically sending him pictures of his hands for the last 25 years, insisting they are not as small as Carter made out.

Maribel Ocampo. Photograph: Adam Gabbatt

The bronze model of Trump’s hand is located near the exit of Madame Tussaud’s, opposite a penny-pressing machine. It is displayed next to a picture of a stern-looking Trump. As visitors flowed out of the wax museum only a few noticed the exhibit.

“Oh, look it’s this asshole,” said Maribel Ocampo, a 39-year-old New York City resident.

Ocampo, a 5ft tall woman, placed her hand over that of the 6ft 2in Trump. Hers was slightly smaller.

“They’re very feminine,” she noted of Trump’s hands. “They’re the size of a regular-size female. If I were normal size they’d be bigger.”

Ocampo described Trump, who has filed for bankruptcy four times, as “a racist and a misogynist” who had “no proper way of talking to people”, yet like Severson, she said the size of Trump hands would not play a part in her vote.

“I don’t care if he had big hulk hands,” she said, referring to the large, green alter ego of scientist Bruce Banner in the Marvel Comics series The Incredible Hulk.

“I still wouldn’t vote for him.”

Ismael Gutierrez, a 24-year-old student, was also taken aback by dimensions of Trump’s hand.

“No way,” he said. “That can’t be.”

Gutierrez’s hand was roughly the same size Trump’s, although at 5ft 4in, he is almost a foot shorter.

“A guy that tall, I find that weird,” Gutierrez said, although he did sound a more encouraging note for the presidential candidate.

“You can’t really judge a man by his hand,” he noted. “This doesn’t really have anything to do with running the country, the size of his hand.”