I am Batman, soaring Trump claims

With his presidential campaign soaring thanks to his antics, Donald Trump has reason to feel like a superman. No wonder, the frontrunner Republican candidate had no hesitation in claiming the mantle of Batman during a campaign stop.

The real estate mogul made the proclamation to a nine year old boy whom he took on a joy ride on his private, 7-million dollar Sikorsky S-76B helicopter in Iowa Saturday, according to CNN.

Trump had not donned a cape. As is usual on campaign trail, he wore white shoes and white khakis with sharp creases and a red baseball cap that said "Make America Great Again".

Yet when William, 9, who had come to the fair with his parents David and Sarah Bowman and three little brothers for the promised ride, popped the question, he did not blink.

William had brought a GoPro camera to capture the experience aimed the camera at the billionaire businessman and said: "Mr. Trump."

"Yes," Trump said, pulling on the lapels of his jacket.

"Are you Batman?" the boy asked.

"I am Batman," Trump said.

After a day of giving joyrides to kids at the Iowa State fair, Trump took a day off from campaign trail to report for jury duty Monday at the State Supreme Court building in lower Manhattan.

Trump arrived in a limousine to face a crowd dominated by scores of cameramen and reporters. He signed a few autographs and shook some hands, according to USA Today.

"It's my duty, and I'm happy to do it," he said of his service before entering the courthouse. "I'm ready. We'll see what happens."

But he was released Monday afternoon without getting selected for a trial. His turn for doing jury duty would not come again for another six years.

Meanwhile, according to a new Gallup poll Donald Trump's controversial comments about women's issues and about Fox News' Megyn Kelly in particular, have not affected his campaign among women so far.

Trump has a lower favourability rating among Republican women than among Republican men (50 percent vs. 59 percent respectively).

However, this gender gap is fairly typical for many of the current Republican candidates, the public opinion poll agency said.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)