Cain’s wife says sexual harassment claims don’t ring true

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is not the type of person who would sexually harass women, his wife, Gloria Cain, said in excerpts of a Fox News interview released Sunday.

Cain’s wife of 43 years has remained largely hidden from public eye as her husband seeks the party’s nomination to run against President Obama in 2012. But in a rare interview, she addressed the allegations that have roiled her husband’s campaign.

“You hear the graphic allegations, and we know that would have been something that’s totally disrespectful of her as a woman. And I know the type of person he is. He totally respects women,” Gloria Cain said in the interview, to air Monday on the Fox program “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

“I’m thinking he would have to have a split personality to do the things that were said.”

Four women have made allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior by Cain, including two who settled harassment claims while he was president of the National Restaurant Assn. in the 1990s.

Cain, a former business executive who has never held public office, has repeatedly denied the sexual harassment accusations.

He and Gloria Cain were married in 1968 and have two adult children — a daughter, Melanie, and a son, Vincent — and grandchildren.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Thursday and Friday showed Cain with 20% support among Republicans, second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who polled 28%.