美国11月大选近在咫尺，“支持率”越来越成为媒体的热门词汇。根据最新民意调查，在伊拉克战争、道德规范和领导能力等方面，民主党的支持率均超过布什总统所在的共和党。与此同时，布什和由共和党控制的国会的支持率“跌跌不休”。

请看外电相关报道：President George W. Bush and Republicans are sinking under the weight of the Iraq war and the Capitol Hill sex scandal, according to a flurry of polls, endangering their control of Congress in the November 7 elections.

The latest polls give Democratic candidates a growing edge of between 13 and 23 percentage points over Republicans on the November ballot¹, with Bush's approval ratings dropping back into the 30s.

“支持率”相应的英文表达是“approval ratings”，“rating”在这里指“评估、评价”，和approval 连用时常做复数，如：The Gallup poll gave the Senator an 83 per cent approval ratings.（盖洛普民意测验结果表明这位参议院拥有83%的支持率。）

此外，rating可作“等级级别（尤指军阶）”、“收视率”，如：a ship with a rating of 200000 tons（20万吨级的船舶）；good ratings（收视率很好）。