Poll: McCain 64, Hayworth 19

The poll was conducted June 30-July 11, after media reports that Hayworth appeared in a 2007 infomercial that promised billions of dollars in free government grants. The McCain campaign subsequently launched two television ads that targeted Hayworth’s past ties to the company that aired infomercials. The company – National Grants Conferences – has been criticized by the attorneys general of multiple states for deceptive marketing and has an “F” rating from the Southeast Florida and Caribbean Better Business Bureau.

McCain led Hayworth 54 to 28 percent in their previous poll, conducted in April.

Earl de Berge, Behavior Research Center’s research director, says that McCain has hurt Hayworth “on ethics issues pertaining to being a lobbyist and so on. Most Republicans just pinch their nose at that stuff, and I think it just turned them off to him. It’s the devil you know versus the devil you don’t know.”