Economy Rated Excellent or Good · U.S. adults (Pew)

## What this measures

The share of adults in the United States who rate economic conditions in the country today as excellent or good. Pew asks: "Thinking about the nation's economy… How would you rate economic conditions in this country today?" The answers are excellent, good, only fair or poor; this series is excellent plus good, as Pew reports it.

## Why it matters

How people judge the economy feeds into what they spend, what they expect from employers and how they vote. It can sit far from what the official statistics say, and that gap is itself a signal of how the economy is being felt.

## How to read it

Higher means more of the group thinks the economy is doing well. The overall share sits between the two parties' readings, which swing with which party holds the White House.

## What it does not say

It is a judgment, not a measurement of output, jobs or prices. Pew asks a few times a year at irregular intervals, so the line moves in steps. Pew's topline also lists an April–May 2014 reading; it is left out because Pew's charted trend, with party figures, begins in 2016.

## Source

Pew Research Center, American Trends Panel: a probability-based online panel of U.S. adults (about 5,000 interviewed in the latest wave). Values are Pew's published figures, copied from the report's chart data and checked against its topline. Each reading is dated at the last day of fieldwork. Citation: "Cost Concerns Dominate as Public's Economic Ratings Turn More Negative." Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (October 8, 2026) https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/10/08/cost-concerns-dominate-as-publics-economic-ratings-turn-more-negative/