Washington, Nov 2 (IANS): Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally accused her Republican rival Donald Trump, of "demeaning, degrading, insulting and assaulting women" for decades.

"Look at what he does. He calls women ugly, disgusting, nasty, all the time. He calls women pigs, rates bodies on a scale of 1 to 10," she said on Tuesday, before going on to say how the mogul has insulted former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

"Can we just stop for a minute and reflect on the absurdity of Donald Trump finding fault with Miss Universe? But, you've got to ask, why does he do these things? Who does this? I will tell you who: a bully, that is who," the former secretary of state said to cheers and applause from the audience.

Accompanied by Machado - who introduced her - at Miami's Dade city rally, Clinton said that she had "been a woman my entire life," adding that "(Trump) thinks belittling women makes him a bigger man. He doesn't see us as full human beings," Efe news reported.

Machado, who Trump has previously described as "Miss Piggy" and who was on her first campaign appearance with Clinton, said of Trump "He was cruel. For years afterward I was sick, fighting back eating disorders."

In late September, Trump had focused on criticizing the 1996 Miss Universe, urging his followers on Twitter to view her "sex tape," although no such tape exists.

Clinton, meanwhile, said she was sorry to have to talk about the treatment Trump had given to women instead of talking about her own policy plans if she becomes president, but she said it was necessary for her to do so.

The former secretary of state said that as a mother she knows the effort the parents make to try to get their children to believe in themselves, adding that they should not let anyone take that confidence away from them.

Machado went on to say that "It's really clear that he does not respect women. He just judges us on our looks. He thinks he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. Well, now I'm standing here on behalf of women and Latinos across the country" and "together we are going to say loudly and clearly - no Trump. He's not getting away with it."

Clinton returned to Florida on Tuesday to hold three campaign events amid discussion and reporting about recent voter surveys that gave the magnate a lead in the Sunshine State, which he needs to win to have any chance of prevailing nationwide in the election.

According to two surveys published in the past two days, the Republican candidate is leading Clinton by 4 points, although the former first lady had topped him in the great majority of the polls in recent weeks, although generally by a tight margin.