Republicans' pre-convention image ties Democrats' among U.S. voters: poll

 TAMPA, the United States, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The favorability of the Republican Party among U.S. registered voters matches the 2008 pre-convention level, and has a virtual tie with that of the Democratic Party, shows a poll released Wednesday.

Forty-four percent of registered voters held a favorable view of the Republican Party, compared to 43 percent for the Democratic Party. While the Republicans' favorable rating is similar to that before the party conventions started in 2008, the Democrats¹' is 11 percentage points lower than 2008, according to the USA Today/ Gallup poll conducted on Aug. 20-22, just ahead of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.

The favorability of the Democrats among the voters is at the lowest pre-convention level in Gallup records since 1992, the Gallup said in a report on the poll. The relatively² low ratings for both parties likely reflect Americans' broader dissatisfaction with the country's direction and government leaders, including Congress, the Gallup said.

The independent voters are expected to be crucial to decide the result of this year's U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6. But the Republicans and Demorcrtats again have a virtual tie in terms of favorability among the independents, at 50 percent to 49 percent. The Republicans have a 38 percent unfavorability rate, in comparison with 37 percent for the Democrats.

More than 40,000 Republican delegates, activists³ and supporters are attending the three-day Republican National Convention in Tampa, which on Tuesday formally nominated former Massachusetts governor Mitt⁴ Romney as the Republican candidate to challenge President Barack Obama in the race for the White House.

Although the Republicans hope to raise Romney's ratings among U. S. voters through the carefully-staged convention, it remains⁵ to be seen if this year's convention will achieve the goal.

A recent Gallup analysis has found that the presidential candidate leading in Gallup polls prior to the first convention ultimately won the election in 12 of the last 15 presidential election contests, which suggests that the quadrennial conventions rarely change the overall trajectory⁶ of a race, the Gallup said.

The Democratic Party's national convention is expected to be held on Sept. 4-6 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。