Clinton vows to be voice of 'literally every group' attacked by Trump

Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has vowed to be the voice of 'literally every group' attacked by Donald Trump as he became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. After a successful showing at the Indiana primary, and subsequent withdrawal of Ted Cruz's candidacy, Trump's likely nomination and Clinton's position as frontrunner has prompted the pair to trade a few blows ahead of their respective parties' national conferences in July.

In his speech following the Indiana win, Trump announced he was "going after Clinton" a week after he accused her of "playing the woman card".

Trump said: "We're going after Hillary Clinton. She will not be a great president. She will not be a good president. She will be a poor president. She doesn't understand trade. Her husband signed perhaps in the history of the world the single worst trade deal ever done."

But in an interview on MSNBC, Clinton hit back at Trump, stating she was confident of beating him in the event of a head-to-head battle between the two for president.

"I think that he should take a look at the numbers, I am leading him by millions of votes, so if we are going to be talking about the contest between him and me before we even get to the general election, I feel pretty good about it," Clinton said.

"But what he was saying in going after my qualifications is very familiar to a lot of women and we are not going to be counted out any more, we are going to stand up and express our opinions, we are going to claim what is rightfully ours in the workplace, in our society, in our economy, in our political system."

Clinton has cashed in on Trump's sexist comments, creating a "women's card" as a campaign tool and increasing fundraising off the back of it.

"I have been thrilled by the response to his negative comments because most women see it not just as about me, they see it about themselves, they see it about their own situation. There has been an outpouring of support; we have raised millions of dollars," she explained.

"We came up with the idea of a woman's card, which unfortunately doesn't give you a discount even though we don't get equal pay for the work we do... But we are making a point and, you know, he can continue to attack me − that's fine, I really don't mind at all, but I am going to stand up for the people of this country women and men.

"But as he goes after women, as he goes after literally every group, I am going to be their voice and I am going to say: 'Wait a minute − we have a lot to contribute to our country and we're doing it.'"

A Trump v Clinton presidential race is looking increasingly likely, with Clinton previously polling well against Trump but polling lower than the GOP candidate in a recent Rasmussen survey that put them on level pegging at 38%, unless the option of abstaining from voting was given, in which case Trump polled higher than Clinton at 41% to 39%.