National Economy Got Better Over the Past Year (CES, % of adults)

## What this measures

The share of U.S. adults who answer "gotten much better" or "gotten better / somewhat better" to the Cooperative Election Study question "OVER THE PAST YEAR the nation's economy has …?", weighted with each year's survey weight.

## How to read it

One reading a year, dated 31 December of the survey year (the survey is fielded in the autumn). Read it with ces.national_economy_past_year.worse and the net series. Answer options vary a little by year (the cumulative file collapses "better" and "somewhat better"; "not sure" was not offered in 2009), so small year-to-year moves can reflect wording.

## What it does not say

It is a perception, not a measure of the economy, and it says nothing about any official or party.

## Source

Cooperative Election Study, Cumulative Common Content 2006–2025 (Kuriwaki, Harvard Dataverse doi:10.7910/DVN/II2DB6), CC0 1.0. Palanor calculation of weighted shares from the public file. Refreshed by hand when a new year is released (scripts/politics/load-ces-economy.ts).