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 ballot, 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）。