This election has had no shortage of controversial events and offensive language, but until fairly recently, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were neck and neck in the polls. According to a new NBC/WSJ poll, Hillary Clinton now holds a national, 11 point, 48-37 lead on Trump.

What's changed? It's certainly not Trump's uniquely derogatory rhetoric. For over a year now, we have been subject to the islamaphobia, sexism, and racism that have themed Trump’s campaign. From issues of birtherism, to dissing the Khan Family, many would say Trump had a fighting chance until his most recent Access Hollywood scandal from 2005 where his is seen “using vulgar language about women,” in particular, a white woman.

All of the sudden, Trump is openly degrading white women.

As Michelle Obama masterfully put it in her most recent speech in New Hampshire, “a candidate for President of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women… this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about predatory sexual behavior.” While all the hype around this most recent scandal isn't solely based on the fact that Trump’s predatory language is directed at a white woman, the American people, and figures of the Republican party, are finally at their wits end with Trump’s behavior.

So, was this most recent scandal just the straw that broke the camel’s back? Or do the American people only become truly offended when white women are involved? Well, it’s a little bit of both.

Trump has been on a downward spiral that has landed him with less than a 90% chance of becoming president, and this most recent scandal just added to that. However, the media has a history of glorifying white woman in the news. The "missing white woman syndrome", is a phenomenon that explains that both sex and race are the heaviest determinants in what is covered in the news. So basically, we are more likely to hear about victimized white women, than anyone else.

Are we surprised that many Americans, particularly people who were contemplating voting for Trump, didn't seem to concern themselves with the anti-feminist, anti-immigrant, anti-any person of color rhetoric of the Trump campaign, until he mentioned white women?

No, we aren’t surprised. We are disappointed that it took an event, as inflammatory and obvious, as this one, to motivate Americans to rethink their standards about who we are willing to vote for in this Presidential election.