Hassett dismisses negative economic polls: ‘We are in a boom’

Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council (NEC), dismissed recent polling Monday, instead arguing the U.S. economy is “in a boom.”

During an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Hassett said consumer spending indicates the economy remains strong.

“If economic polls … were correct, then people wouldn’t be taking trips to nice hotels, they wouldn’t be flying, they wouldn’t be buying cars, they wouldn’t be doing all the things they do when they’re feeling good about the economy,” the NEC director told host Joe Kernen.

Consumer spending increased by $190.7 billion from July to August, a figure that took into account the annual inflation rate of 3.4 percent , as measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index.

Hassett argued Monday that “true sentiment” of the economy is “best measured by what you see” Americans doing.

“And what people are doing is they’re acting like we’re in a boom. And the reason they’re doing that is because despite what the polls say, we are in a boom,” he told Kernen.

Consumer confidence declined in September to its lowest level since 2014, according to the Conference Board .

The University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers index has also preliminarily reported that consumer confidence was at a reading of 46.3 in October, down 13.6 percent year-over-year. The survey will release final data for this month Friday.

While the unemployment rate remains below 5 percent , inflation is still running above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target rate. Annual inflation in September was 3.7 percent , up from 3.4 percent in August , according to the consumer price index .

Persistent inflation compelled Federal Reserve officials to raise interest rates last month for the first time since the summer of 2023. Traders are pricing in a roughly 83 percent chance of the central bank holding rates steady at its meeting next week , according to the CME FedWatch tool .

The average 30-year mortgage rate, at 7.4 percent, is also at a nearly four-year high, according to Freddie Mac .

But Hassett, echoing President Trump’s positive view of the economy, said Monday that the country is in good shape as early voting in the midterms is underway.

“If you look at, holistically, where the economy is, we’ve got high growth, we’ve got the lowest unemployment insurance claims since World War II,” Hassett told Kernen, arguing September’s uptick in inflation is “hardly enough to overpower all the good news” for the economy.