Cain's fourth accuser has a name: Sharon Bialek, she has a life, seems very credible..be ###

US politics live blog: Herman Cain faces new accusations of sexual assault

Live US political developments as Sharon Bialek accuses Republican presidential contender Herman Cain of sexual assault in July 1997

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Sharon Bialek listens as lawyer Gloria Allred speaks during a news conference to accuse Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

5.11pm: A new Pew Research Centre poll found that a plurality of people think the allegations against Herman Cain are true – and this polling was done before Sharon Bialek made her public statement today:

Three-quarters of the public say they have heard a lot (51%) or a little (24%) about accusations that Cain harassed several women during his tenure in the late 1990s as president of the National Restaurant Association.
Of those who had heard about the allegations, about four-in-ten (39%) say that, from what they have read and heard, they think the allegations are true. Roughly a quarter (24%) say they think the claims are false, according to the latest weekly survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Nov. 3-6 among 1,005 adults. Another 36% say they do not know (31%) or refuse to answer (5%).

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, however, 39% say they think the allegations are false, 29% say they think the accusations are true and 32% say they do not know or refuse to answer. Still not great.

5pm: This is when things get serious for Herman Cain: when a conservative organisation such as Concerned Women of America and a movement conservative stalwart such as Bob Vander Plaats in Iowa say that you need to explain yourself.

Here's CWA president Penny Nance:

Mr Cain needs to address these new allegations head on. Unlike anonymous allegations, Ms Bialek appeared credible and I was very disturbed by her characterization of what happened. Whoever Republican primary voters choose as president should be a man or woman of good moral character. We said when Bill Clinton was president that character counts and we still believe that.

Your move, Herman.

4.40pm: Here's part of the text of the statement by Sharon Bialek

• Read a summary of the latest accusations against Cain
• Sharon Bialek's statement
• The Guardian's coverage of Bialek's allegations

Source: The Guardian