Tommy ChristopherMay 26th, 2026, 11:06 am

Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo confronted Trump White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett over low consumer sentiment — so Hassett attacked the survey, suggesting it’s rigged.

The Iran War has contributed to months of bad inflation numbers, including a Producer Price Index report that sent stocks tumbling earlier this month. President Donald Trump has seen his approval rating on the economy crater in the process, and the Consumer Sentiment index has plummeted as well.

On Tuesday morning’s edition of Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, Bartiromo asked Hassett what he would say to consumers to improve their sentiment, and Hassett attacked the survey that measures it:

FOX ANCHOR MARIA BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, consumer sentiment fell for the third straight month.

In the month of May. It was at a record low of 44.8. The Iran conflict, unnerving people, fueling some worries about inflation as higher costs and elevated oil prices show up in people’s pocketbook.

What is the most important messaging that you can put out there for consumers to help sentiment here?

NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR KEVIN HASSETT: Well, they call it consumer sentiment, but I don’t think those words mean what they think they mean anymore.

We looked at the political affiliation of the people who are responding, and we found that at the peak of Biden’s stagflation with inflation running out of control, that Democrats in the survey had a sentiment index that was way above 100.

Right now they’re at 30-something. And then Republicans have stayed relatively steady throughout.

But we find that basically the consumer sentiment indicator at the University of Michigan. It’s just a political survey. And in fact, the correlation between what independents say and Democrats say is 0.8 or 0.9. It is almost exactly, perfectly correlated.

So what they have done is they have somehow devised a political survey that tells us how Democrats are feeling about things.

If you want to look at how people are thinking, you should go to the conference board consumer confidence. The consumer confidence measure is actually the most reliable thing and right now it’s the highest it’s been in a year.

Watch above via Fox Business Network’s Mornings With Maria.

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