Perhaps nothing is softer, or more unreliable, than the so-called University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey. AdvertisementHere are the trend lines for the Michigan Consumer Sentiment index by Political Party. AdvertisementThese squishy sentiment reports may provide contrarian investing opportunities (when sentiment reaches deep lows, it may be a time to deploy more capital). Yet, consumer sentiment among callous Dems remained incongruously elevated when contrasted to that of Republicans. AdvertisementIt is probably unwise to make economically related decisions based on the Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey.