OH-OH! OPRAH’S OBAMA OK ONLY ALIENATES, APPARENTLY
April 10th, 2008, 4:17 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Lehr
An article in today’s Politico shows that Oprah Winfrey’s Obama endorsement has had only a marginally positive effect on him.. while having a decidedly negative effect on her.
Read the gist of the article after you click “read the rest of this entry.”
“Much hay was made nearly a year ago when Oprah Winfrey announced that she would support - and campaign for - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Her effect in boosting support for Obama in early primary and caucus states like Iowa (which he won), New Hampshire (which he lost) and even South Carolina (which he won) is debatable.”
…
But what has received far less attention is the impact Oprah’s endorsement has had on her own popularity.”
As of January 2007, she had a 74% favorability rating, according to a USA Tdoay/Gallup poll. Any politician would kill for those kinds of numbers.
But in May, 2007, Oprah went on the Larry King show to announce she was, for the first time, endorsing a political candidate for President - Barack Obama:
Now … that’s not so high. Take it away, Politico:
“The results of a March 26, 2008, AOL Television popularity poll of television hosts reveal Americans may now embrace Ellen DeGeneres over Oprah by a wide margin. Forty-six percent of the 1.35 million people who participated in the poll said the daytime talk show host that “made their day” was Ellen, compared with only 19 percent who chose Oprah. Nearly half (47 percent) said they would rather dine with Ellen, compared with 14 percent who preferred Oprah.”
Current Oprah approval rating: 55%. That represents a massive plunge.
“To be sure, Oprah remains one of the most popular figures in America, but recent data suggest her popularity has eroded. One possible explanation for this decline is that her endorsement of Obama and her support for him may have done more to damage impressions of her than to strengthen support for Obama. Then again, Obama may become the next president of the United States, and he may feel he has Oprah partly to thank for going out on a limb for him - not a bad situation for the talk show queen.
Still, a lesson celebrities may extract is that political endorsements carry the risk of alienating fans, often without the reward of considerably boosting support for the candidate. While celebrities are certainly entitled to express their political beliefs - just like every other American - it is possible that the public prefers high-profile entertainment personalities to stay on the tube and off the stump.”
What do you think? Is her endorsement of Obama to blame? Would she have suffered the same kind of popularity drop no matter which candidate she endorsed? Time for you to weigh in with a comment!
