Hillary Clinton regrets calling half of Donald Trump backers deplorable

Clinton called her statement was grossly generalistic, but she slammed racist rhetoric in Trump campaign

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said Saturday she regretted calling half of Donald Trump's supporters "deplorable," but doubled down on slamming "racist rhetoric" in his campaign.

The former secretary of state was under fire after telling a New York fundraiser last night: "To be grossly generalist, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorable."

"The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up."

Speaking to gay rights supporters at the "LGBT for Hillary" gala, she added that those people are "irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America."

"Basket of Deplorables" quickly became a trending hashtag on Twitter. There was even a mock account called "Hillary's Basket," with the handle @TheDeplorables, deriding the former first lady and US senator.

With less than two months to go before Election Day, and the race still tight, Clinton walked back her remark on Saturday.

"Last night I was 'grossly generalist,' and that's never a good idea. I regret saying 'half' — that was wrong," she said in a statement released by her campaign.

But she went on to bash Trump, listing a number of "deplorable" things about her opponent.

"It's deplorable that Trump has built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people," she said.

"It's deplorable that he's attacked a federal judge for his 'Mexican heritage,' bullied a Gold Star family because of their Muslim faith, and promoted the lie that our first black president is not a true American," she said.

"So I won't stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign."

Clinton, 68, had also told the crowd at the fundraiser that other Trump supporters are people who feel let down by the government and the economy, and are "desperate for change."

She reiterated that point in her statement Saturday, saying many of Trump's supporters are "hard-working Americans" who feel marginalised.

"I'm determined to bring our country together and make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top," she said.