White House official proposes renaming consumer sentiment index

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the consumer sentiment index should be renamed "political sentiment" because it functions as a political variable. Hassett spoke on the CBS News program Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. He noted that the index reached an all-time low in the same week the Dow Jones recorded an all-time high.

The index measures how households view current and future economic conditions. Hassett argued the recent divergence between market performance and survey results shows the measure now tracks political attitudes.