Poll: McCain leads Hayworth

PHOENIX, April 30 (UPI) -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., trails among conservative voters in his re-election bid but holds the overall edge over his opponent, a new poll indicates.

McCain holds a 46 percent-to-36 percent advantage over primary challenger J.D. Hayworth, a former U.S. representative who has challenged McCain's conservative credentials, the Public Policy Polling released Thursday indicated.

Hayworth has a 46 percent-to-38 percent edge over McCain among conservatives, but his advantage is offset by McCain's 60 percent-to-15 percent lead among GOP moderates, the poll indicated.

Neither candidate is wowing the GOP faithful, results indicated. Forty-five percent of respondents said they disapprove of the job McCain is doing while 44 percent said he was doing a good job. Forty percent of voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of Hayworth compared with 37 percent who said they have a positive one.

"John McCain's clearly in a weak position with Republican voters," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, N.C. However, Hayworth's high negatives "should really help McCain's prospects for renomination."

Results are based on a survey of 387 Republican voters in Arizona April 23-25. The margin of error is 5 percentage points.