Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has overhauled his campaign team for the second time in two months, with two new leaders.
Donald Trump's latest shake-up comes 82 days before the US election. Photo: Supplied
Pollster Kellyanne Conway becomes campaign manager and Stephen Bannon of Breitbart News the CEO. Paul Manafort remains campaign chairman, but analysts say he has effectively been demoted.
Mr Trump told Associated Press (AP) the new leaders were "terrific people ... they're champs".
Mr Trump has seen his poll ratings slip since the party conventions last month.
He trails Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, both nationally and in key battleground states.
The latest shake-up comes just 82 days before the election.
On his website, Mr Trump said: "I have known Steve and Kellyanne both for many years. They are extremely capable, highly qualified people who love to win and know how to win."
The AP said the details of the new hierarchy were hammered out at a lengthy senior staff meeting at Trump Tower on Tuesday, and that more senior appointments were expected in the coming days.
The new appointments come ahead of the Mr Trump's team's first major TV advertisements, due to start this week.
Although Mr Manafort stays in his job, analysts say the new appointments, which come two months after campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was sacked, represent a demotion.
The Washington Post cited Trump campaign aides as saying Mr Trump respected Mr Manafort but felt "boxed in" by people "who barely knew him".
Mr Manafort, a former adviser to George HW Bush and Bob Dole, only joined the Trump campaign in March.
Mr Trump has been pressed by some Republicans to tone down his fiery rhetoric in the wake of a number of controversial comments in the past two weeks and the subsequent drop in poll ratings.
But Mr Trump appears to want to stand by the campaign style that won him the Republican nomination.
He said on Tuesday: "You know, I am who I am. It's me. I don't want to change.
"Everyone talks about, 'Oh, well you're going to pivot, you're going to.' I don't want to pivot. I mean, you have to be you. If you start pivoting, you're not being honest with people."
Mr Manafort has had a troubled week, following a report in the New York Times that ledgers in Ukraine showed he was earmarked for $US12.7m in undisclosed cash payments from the former pro-Russian government between 2007 and 2012. He denied receiving any "off-the-books cash payment".
Hillary Clinton's campaign has called for a full disclosure of Donald Trump's campaign team's alleged pro-Russia links. Photo: AFP
The Trump team's alleged pro-Russia links have been a key issue of the campaign, and the latest allegations sparked a call from the Clinton campaign for a full disclosure.
Opinion polls since the national conventions have made grim reading for the Trump team, both nationally and in key states.
The national lead for the Democratic candidate is currently between seven and eight points, the polls suggest.
The New York Times said on Monday that no modern candidate trailing by this much three weeks after the conventions had won the election.
An opinion poll in the state of Virginia, carried in the Washington Post on Tuesday, gave Mrs Clinton a 14 point lead there.
- BBC
