is suffering from a "significant cognitive decline" as he has "memory lapses" and "butchers" speeches ahead of the this week, an expert has sensationally claimed.

Americans go to the polls this week as Mr Trump

In recent months, Mr Trump has sparked controversy on numerous occasions with his remarks.

Paul Quirk, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, tells the Daily Express that many of these moments point to Mr Trump's judgment being "impaired".

He claimed: "There has been abundant evidence of Trump having a significant decline in cognitive ability. Some of it is subtle-reduced vocabulary, increased repetition, and butchered pronunciation of common words.

"Some have been more dramatic-like the extended memory lapse about Nikki Haley and January 6.

"But the decline has been hard to pin down for the mainstream media because many of the manifestations in his public utterances-wildly false claims, meandering remarks, zany topics, inflammatory language-have become more frequent and more extreme so gradually they can be taken as his normal speech.

"Still, the Trump of 2016 would have known better than to insult Detroit to an audience in Detroit, to question Harris' black identity while speaking to black journalists, or to promise to protect women 'whether they like it or not.' His judgment is impaired."

Professor Quirk referred to a moment in February when Mr Trump spoke about his then-Republican Party opponent for the nomination as presidential candidate Nikki Haley while talking about the events of January 6 2021.

He meant to refer to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Last week, Mr Trump said he "shouldn't have left" office after losing the 2020 election.

He added: "I shouldn't have left. I mean, honestly, because we did so, we did so well."

As the US prepares for election day on Tuesday, Mr Trump has been dealt a setback as a poll puts Ms Harris ahead in Iowa, a state the Republican candidate won in both of his previous elections.

The Selzer poll has Harris leading with 47 percent, while Trump is behind with 44 percent.

The poll was conducted for The Des Moines Register newspaper. They said: "The poll shows that women particularly those who are older or who are politically independent are driving the late shift toward Harris."