A surprise: Oprah pays a real cost for supporting Barack Obama

(UPDATE: This Ticket item has aroused so much interest, traffic and hundreds of comments that a new one has been published this morning. After you've read this item and are ready to go to the new one, just click here to read the reactions of hundreds of Oprah fans and former fans. Thanks for reading.)

Most of the attention on the O2 effect -- Obama and Oprah -- has been focused on how much the daytime TV cult leader helped her home state senator by endorsing him and appearing at all those rallies in Iowa and South Carolina with Barack and Michelle.

The 54-year-old Chicago TV hostess certainly helped raise a hefty chunk of change by loaning out her estate for that Obama fundraiser last summer.

Oprah Winfrey has long enjoyed an immense popularity tied to her long-running daytime TV show, which started in 1986, and helped give her favorable ratings around 78% by 1996. So well known is she that one name will suffice, as in our headline.

In one 1999 survey of the most admired and respected 20th-century women, Oprah (26%) came in only second to Mother Teresa (33%), who didn't have her own TV show. And in 2003 a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll found that 60% thought Oprah was a more powerful woman than someone named Hillary Clinton, a former first lady and senator, who drew only 28%.

Fourteen months ago, a Gallup/USA Today poll found 74% of Americans had a favorable view of the TV personality.

Then on May 1 last year, Oprah announced during....

the Larry King show that she was, for the first time, going to throw her considerable weight behind a political candidate -- Obama.  King's suspenders nearly snapped.

“I think," she told old Lar, "that my value to him, my support of him, is probably worth more than any check.” Although, to be honest, her estimated $2.5 billion in wealth could buy an awful lot of TV ads in Indiana. It might even be able to purchase the Hoosier State. 

But little attention has been paid to the effect of Obama on Oprah. Now along comes Costas Panagopoulos, an assistant professor of political science at New York's Fordham University, to ask and answer just that question.

Writing at Politico.com, he suggests the aging empress of TV has paid a price for getting into the dirty business of politics with and for her man Barack. By August last year, a CBS poll found her favorable rating had plunged from 74% to 61%, still twice as good as the president but nearly a 20% drop.

Around Thanksgiving she announced that not only was she supporting Obama, but she would campaign with him and we'd see if her political recommendation carried as much weight as her book recommendations. Oprah's political travels produced a media feeding frenzy and a publicity bonanza with women routinely fainting in the front row. The campaign said her rallies produced 10,000 new volunteers.

Winfrey campaigned for Obama in Iowa, which he won, in South Carolina, where he won, and in New Hampshire, where he lost. We haven't heard much about Winfrey since the voting started. Did she realize something we're just getting?  We heard only that she left the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ several years ago, reportedly over some of his more militant sermons that Obama says he never heard.

But 10 days after the campaign media explosion her favorable rating had dropped further to 55% and her unfavorable ratings for the first time climbed to 1 in 3.

A December ABC/Washington Post poll of Democrats found 8% were persuaded by her Obama endorsement, 82% said it wouldn't matter either way and 10% said her recommendation had turned them off Obama.

Now, Panagopoulos has discovered an AOL TV popularity survey of 1.35 million Americans that found 46% said the daytime TV host who "made their day" was Ellen DeGeneres while only 19% chose Winfrey. Forty-seven percent said they'd like to have dinner with Ellen, while only 14% chose Oprah.

Apparently, neither Ellen nor Oprah were asked who they'd like to dine with.

Panagopoulos draws the conclusion that in these days of pervasive media, in reality, celebrity endorsements run the real risk of costing the celebrity more than they benefit the endorsee. So celebs may want to think twice before hitting the stump.

But then how many hundred million dollars a year does an assistant professor at Fordham pull down?

-- Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: Newsday, Archdiocese of Colombo

Comments

[Sandi Ashworth]

Sacrifice, self loathing, subordination and submission are extolled by Oprah as a virtue.

Oprah's sacrifice is emulated as her obedience to her god, who sacrificed itself to save a sinner (a person of no virtue). Namely a murderer, a child killer, a thief, a bully? If anyone is to be saved, those are the very people that a self loathing person would regard as more worthy of life than themselves.

Religion is fundamental by proxy.
If you pick away pieces of religion and discard them, then you end up with a frail skeleton. This leaves one with a very brittle foundation of philosophy.

As Oprah's fragile bits of philosophy have begun to fragment, Oprah's congregation of dim witted fans are beginning to see the real light of reason.

Ayn Rand speaks of such reason that
Oprah might consider.

“The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration whatsoever.”

[Angel]

Oprah stood on the shoulders of millions of women to achieve the status that she has today. We raised her to great heights,we campaigned for her, we let her into our homes and made her one of the family. I think by turning her back on the first real chance that we had to have a woman president is finally showing her true colors. Sorry O you backed woman for less just to empower women and you threw us under the bus just like Obama did to his grandmother.

[Stats Guy]

Going from 74% to 61% *is* a nearly 20% drop. Thirteen divided by 74 is .1756. That's about 18% which is nearly 20%. Andrew Malcolm's math is right.

[jld]

"Boy am I glad I don't live in the US of A "

Hey Canuck...so are we.

[mlund]

I applaud J Woods for his comments - Pastors come and go - but the Church is eternal. Please note -- I do not give any validation to comments which are full of misspelled words. Please check your dictionary before allowing your views to become public. Having attended Democratic caucuses, I am further convinced that it is important for Obama to become the nominee. His honesty, forthrightness, compassion and wisdom in desiring negotiation is to be commended and is not forthcoming from the Clinton campaign. Who better to "bring our country together" and to act in using diplomacy instead of guns with those countries who would seem to be anti-American?

[Libertasdon]

Watashi: I am as conservative a Republican as one would want, but I do not hate Oprah, as I do not hate most anyone. The closest I ever came to that poliitically was when former President Clinton's lies became obvious, including his perjury. This, together with news about his debauchery in the White House, got me to not liking him excessively. But I had a talk with myself and decided to love the sinner, but hate the sin. I bet you and everyone else does that--except the few on both sides of the political debate who really do not care to make the effort.

But I love and admire Oprah. Just not her politics. I suggest the country divide up and have a great big honkin' debate over politics. And afterward we try to support the new president, whoever he or she is, even as politics and debate continues. I think the Reverend Wright, together with Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, will give us a lot to argue about in the meantime. And the debate will be robust, to say the least, over McCain's foreign policy in Iraq and Iran. Hillary will get a lot of heat over her tax and spend policies and her lack of candor. But Oprah will just continue on television each day with interesting guests who, I bet, will help drive up her favorable numbers again. Oprah is a perfectly made television personality. Lucky her. No one large group of Americans (read Republicans) can hate someone as pesonable as she. So eve if her feathers get ruffled, and her number go down for a while, she will survive.

[Walter Thompson]

As one scrolls down through the comments made on this it is very easy to find the democrats, most are unable to even do simple math functions. They are however, given the right to vote and help choose our leaders. God help us if they use that same emotionally driven & misguided sense of reality to pick a president, since the facts don't really matter but they really really FEEL something.

[Ryan]

I read all of your posts! ALL. Now let me show you this. I am African American, Veteran of more than 14 years and several deployments. Now lets look:

Oprah is her own person, is one of the worlds most powerful woman and is rich. (Where are you?)

Obama's Paster - To blacks their paster is as much a part of their families as there father, mother, etc. He has not said things that most blacks have not heard in charge.

America - Right, blacks have given so much for this country and have not reaped an equal share to their white counterparts. Infact is is a fact that banks dont pass loans to blacks at the same rate as white, whites for the most part have better education and medical insurance/treatment, are generally paid more for the same jobs then their black peers. This is a well documented fact.

You would say I am bitter, however consider this:

I am married to a Russian woman
I have a Masters Degree in Management/Information Technogy.
I am known for being highly professional

The fact is Hillary made too many mistakes in her campanion to include her husband's mouth and temper, she automatically assumed the African Americans would vote for her, woman would vote just because she is a woman (no one really acknowledges this)

Obama is a far better lawyer thank either of the Clintons! Also, he actually did things for his community and is seeking change. Oh, if you voted for BUSH's second term then you should not even open your mouth you were clearly and idiot.

There is so much more, however ponder that. Oh, did I mention that I am Republican. Wait til Obama and McCain run, there are many Republicans who hate McCain and will support Obama. Enough said!

[Annette Freeman]

I believe that Oprah just thinks that her money and her stardom can take her and anyone else everywhere. I don't watch her show anymore either or listen to her on the radio I am sure that her magazine sales have gone down too. but since she has so much money, like building a school in Africa, why don't the govt and Oprah get together and give these people some clean running water.

I came across an email where its Obama, another Senator, Hillary, and another Senator all of them except Obama are saluting the flag while the pledge of alligence is being said.

He can't represent America he is not America he is not the hope that we are looking for . He hasn't even said what he stands for. The gas was high last year he was in the Senate what happen? Anyway I am a registered democrate but the way it looks like I will be voting Republican. GOD BLESS AMERICA because he is the only one that could help us!

[Andrew]

Ok, it is a given that the content of Rev. Wright's speeches are not confined to the "30-second soundbites"-term that Obamaphiles have so adoringly adopted as a defense mechanism for that issue in the campaign. However, they are most assuredly the climaxes of the speeches, and therefore had material closely-related to the subject of his rants surrounding those "soundbites." It is preposterous to say that in each of those respective speeches that the Reverend was calmly preaching about a given subject, and then suddenly reverted into the angry tirades which we have seen in the media. No, it is more likely that speeches were entirely negative in the views expressed in them. The members of the flock that follows Obama need to take off their rose-colored glasses and realize that Obama is not what this country needs right now, which is a proven leader with years of experience in foreign policy and terms in the Senate. And this is all coming from a 20-year old college student, a demographic that is supposedly a lock for Obama. That's my two cents.

Hillary '08

[Michael Schmidtman]

"Uh.. I agree Oprah's popularity has decreased but this reporter needs to go back to elementary math. How is a drop from 74 to 61 nearly 20? It's only 13%! Closer to 10% than 20%!

Posted by: dom | April 09, 2008 at 01:46 PM'

YOU are the one needing help with your math. Dropping from 74% to 61% is, by percentage, a little over an 18% drop.

I hope you know more about the candidates than you do about arithmatic.

[Bernardo]

Zorki1c— As bad as Jimmy Carter was as a President, Bush has been worse. McCain could easily be worse than either of them, but an affirmative-action President Obama would be a disaster of monumental proportions.

How we got into this mess, I don't know. But it isn't Oprah who's going to show us the way out.

[ben spinman]

Oprah, Barack, Maria Shriver are all repeating this new age mantra "We are the ones we have been waiting for". I think we will be hearing alot more of this. It's kinda spooky. I think the new liberals are trying to substitute God with humanity. Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y7OFLl3asg

[carrie]

What impressed me was how quickly and how dramatically the black female vote moved from Hillary to Obama after Oprah's endorsement.

[joyce]

I would not vote for Obama or Clinton, Obama wants us to go to the left of the black muslims and who wants another Clinton in the white house...they both are bad for America, and Jimmy Carter is the worse President we have ever had..................and I could care less what Oprah thinks....don't any of you people think for yourself?????????????????????????

[Bishop Trimelda C. McDaniels]

I am an African American pastor and bishop of a Christian 12 Steps Church. The members of my church out here in Idaho are white and Mexican/White and in recovery from sexual and substance abuse. The majority of the Black people in this town wouldn't want to be seen with any of our members because they are poor and have issues. People forget that there is classism among Black people just as much as there might be racism between Black people and White people, (check out Spike Lee's School Daze for that whole trip).

Many Black people sneer at and look down on inner city members of our race as ignorant. That's why someone like Oprah could make the statement she did about wanting to make schools in Africa instead of Stateside.
Oprah is a snob. She looks down on poor people from her own race and stereotypes them as being lazy, stupid, shiftless, etc, etc with that idiotic remark. Why? Because she thinks she is all that and a bag of chips.
Sad but true.

As for Obamination Barack and Rev. I so Wrong, a plague on both of their houses! Let me take the exact same thing this man said and how that plays when the shoe is on the other foot:

"When [Obama’s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli [to visit Muammar al-Gaddafi] with [Louis] Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell."

That's what Wright really said. Now let's try this statement from the other side:

"When John McCain's enemies find out that in 1974 I went to South Africa [to visit their Prime Minister with the head of the KKK, a lot of his Black support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell."

Does that sound better or worse if it's about white people and racism instead of black people and racism?

How about this?

Theological justifications

Martin E. Marty, an emeritus professor of religious history[20] explained Wright's perspective by basing the comments on his church: "For Trinity, being 'unashamedly black' does not mean being 'anti-white.'" Marty also asserted that Trinity's "members and pastor are, in their own term, 'Africentric' [African-centered], and that this should not be more offensive than that synagogues should be 'Judeo-centric' or that Chicago's Irish parishes be 'Celtic-centric'."[21]

Okay, let's put the shoe on the other foot with this statement on Wright:
"For Trinity, being 'unashamedly white' does not mean being 'anti-black.'" Marty also asserted that Trinity's "members and pastor are, in their own term, 'Eurocentric' [Eiropean-centered], and that this should not be more offensive to be White centered than for some other churches to be Black centered.

Or how about this?
"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America — that's in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn America, as long as she pretends to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."[10][9][11]

Okay, let's try it with a white wash:

"The Muslims in Nigeria and all through out Northern Africa and Indonesia are persecuting Christians and having their heads cut off because they won't stop trying to get people converted to Christianity. The Muslims in Africa and in the Middle East were behind most of the old slave trade of Black Africans and are behind much of the drug and human slavery and trafficking in the world. Yet people want us to say, "Bless the Muslims and these evil, racist governments. No, no, no, not God Bless Muslims where millions have died by the hands of Africans murdering Africans and Muslims murder thousands of innocent non Muslims and have been for hundreds of years. NO. God damn Muslims -that's in the Bible — for killing innocent people. God damn the Muslims and their evil governments as long as they pretends to act like they are God, and they are supreme. The Muslim governments of Africa have failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."

How does that sound to you? How does that sound to the African Americans reading this blog? Are you comfortable with that? Do you feel like screaming racist
about that statement? Why?

Are we interested in truth or racist BS?

One more thing: 13 million BLACK babies have been murdered by abortion. Yet Obamination Barack continues to support partial birth abortion and abortion on demand. Rev. I so Wrong is cool about screaming God Damn America for the stuff liberals get fried about but not a word of protect about the genocide of 13 MILLION BABIES OF COLOR! Hypocrites! Self serving, sell out, Oreo cookie, Uncle Tom, spines of Jello, Hypocrites to stay silent about the death of millions of babies through abortion supported by the Deathocrats and to bleat about 911 and AIDs when more babies have been killed by the policies of sell out women and people of color than ANY war we have waged since World War Two.

God Damn America? No, my dear sirs, GOD DAMN YOU, Obama and Wright for the blood of innocent children on your hands because you support genocide against your own people while posing as the Great Black Hope. Shame on you both.

[DaBunny]

To all those knocking the numbers in the article, they are talking the percent of her previous ratings, not the actual percentage point drop. Her 13 percentage point drop from 74% is a 17.6% decrease. In marketing math land that qualifies as an "almost 20% drop". It is also used to demonstrate that almost 1 in 5 of those who formerly viewed her favorably no longer do so. That is pretty significant and is somewhat hidden if you compare 74% to 61%.

[DOROTHY]

Poor, poor Oprah! All she did was endorse ONE black man and she loses viewers! I wonder if that tell you anything, it speeks volumns to me. All these years she's been on the air and have given her time and money.now she's taboo because she likes Obama and see's potential in him. And they say we don't have a race problem in America.
Would she have loss viewers if she had endorsed Hillary? Of course not, Hillary is white,and we are used to Black people endorsing whites!
Stay in your lilttle old place Oprah gal and only vote for the ones we endorse!

[Chunhua]

I have always wondered why so many people followed a woman who publishes a magazine with a picture of herself on the cover of every issue. I was turned off by Oprah many years ago because she loved to brag about the amount of money she made. She wants to use her influence in the political arena and Now she has her own religion; sounds like an antichrist to me.

[Chris Mac]

So who's gonna turn out to be the anti-Christ ... Oprah or Obama?
Lord have Mercy!

[Gloria]

Lincoln is dead wrong. I like Hannity and I like Oprah and as far as I'm concerned Fox and OReilly is where you hear the truth. Now Rivera is a whole different story.

[Bernardo]

As smart as she is about self-promotion, Oprah is overly race-conscious and unduly delights in seeing blacks succeed — often to the point of damaging her own credibility. That appears to have happened with Sen. Obama.

His much-praised speech that was supposed to distance him from his own minister’s racist rant has proven to be totally ineffective. In fact, I fully expect that similar otherwise unrelated incidents will continue to haunt him through the campaign, and if elected, into the White House. After all, we really don’t know much more about this guy.

Such is the result of nominating someone without any serious credentials or a history of achievements to fill the highest office in the nation. Instead of being defined by their personal record of accomplishment, such people are defined by daily events beyond their control. Consequently, the prospects for Sen. Obama providing any real leadership for our nation appear to be as empty as his self-written “wonder-speech.”

[Gloria]

First off, Dorothy, I am white and Oprah just might have lost me had she endorsed Hillary. It would have told me she didn't have the brains she was born with.

[Oren Ishi]

Oprah is a fat dumpy highly over rated racist money bags. Time for her to retire this arrogant nothing of a woman thinks that she is a demi god, we supposed to bow down before that fat little pork pie?? Bow down before the great Oprah give me a break,l she ain't my God.
Fact that she attended that church shows she hates whites like the Rev Wrong!!!

[Jen06]

"..had plunged from 74% to 61%, still twice as good as the president but nearly a 20% drop." Since when does 13% magically round up to 20%?"

What idiots mentioned this "fact"? Oh, must have been the ones that never made it through junior high math. 20% of 74 = 14.8 which is nearly 20%. You were trying to subtract 61% from 74% to get the 20% - sheesh.

BTW, I like both Hannity and OPrah - want to make something of it?

[karen]

Gee- Rip-political, So glad to read your racist words directed to "YOU WHITE people." This is exaclty what is wrong here. It's all about race (for most Blacks) - as long as the candidate is Black all is well - so you are in it for revenge no matter who is running ? Just tell me HOW LONG and HOW MUCH money will it take to make some Black people feel better? Please just give us a date and an amount so we can get this over with. Is it not enough that a Black Man is running for President, that a Black Woman is the Secretary of State?, that a Black Woman is the wealthiest Black ever?? That Blacks have success in every aspect of American lie???. If you cannot make it in this world today in 2008 - you will never make it no matter what color your skin is. So don't talk to me about" YOU WHITE people." You BLACK PERSON are the racist. I never was, never will be and am sick of being blamed for your failures. Get over it.!!!!! In 1978 30 years ago!!!!my boss was a classy Black woman she taught me a lot about life. She NEVER talked bad about the country the President or any predjudice against her. She just WORKED hard, stayed married, raised beautiful children with her hard working black Dr. Husband and was MY friend. Me !!! the one you call" YOU white people" So many Black people are racists its incredible that all we ever hear is how Whites are the problem. It's a problem but its not about what color your skin is---it's about what you are inside. Stop laying that crap on me. I am sick of it. We all need to make it in this world and racism from Blacks towards Whites, Mexicans, Jews etc. is BACKWARDS-- GET OVER it... Please.. Either stop demanding and whining or tell everyone in the world the years, the money and the suffering we need to go thru to get over this. Otherwise you are just cashing in on a really bad history. That mindset will not do any of us any good. In the ensuing 30 years, I had and have had many black women friends. I have learned from them and vice verse. This election has brought out the worst in black people. I really never knew how much you hated us. Its very sad. As I said before, my generation did nothing to you-never will do anything to you and my generation was a huge part of the civil rights movement. I am sick of being blamed for the ignorance and unconsciouness of other people in a bygone era. It is NOW and it is NOT then. Live YOUR life - not your ancestors lives. Also if you are really an American it is your White house too and I do think Oprah cares if people think she is a racist. I am sure she would want you to know that she is not...If Obama is the President I will respect him. Bet you won't respect the President of the United States no matter who it is.

[PAWS]

Here is some information I have not seen posted (although I confess I haven't read the last handful of posts).

Oprah is not the only 'notable' African American who was less than pleased with Rev. Wright. Colin Powell walked out in the middle of Rev. Wright's rant because he refused to listen to any more of his bigoted rant.

Before the campaigns were in high gear, Rev. Wright stated that he would need to step down as leader of the church if Obama were to be able to be elected president. Wright explained that if it began to look as if Obama may be close to winning the primary, then he would step down because of his stands at the pulpit would indeed hurt Obama's chances. This was all discussed prior to the campaign heating up, and Obama and his advisors (of which Rev. Wright was one) devised the best way to handle the eventual backlash from Rev. Wright.

With some diligent research, much can be found about Rev. Wright. I correct myself, much COULD be found, but I have no idea if it is still available. I had seen full sermons on video of Rev. Wright that were appalling, but cannot find them any longer. Rev. Wright is no idiot, nor is Obama.

Don't believe everything you read, vet the person and the information. Full length sermons I find credible, posts on message boards are merely opinions. Do the legwork yourself , don't trust my post or any other post. Educate yourself.

[Daryl]

I see...It's fine for a 40 year old white woman to endorse Hillary (another white woman)...but there's a problem when a black woman endorses Obama (another black person).

[Russ]

Hillary's camp has much to lose if they start brining out more on Rev Wright. They cannot afford to lose whatever African American support they still have.

If Obama gets the nomination, what would McCain's camp have to lose to bring any more information out about Rev Wright? Looks to be interesting this fall!

[Think Twice, from Canada]

74 to 61, a 20% drop? Well, YES!!

Do the math, dumb dumbs.

61 / 74 = about 82.4%

That means that almost 20% of her previous support has jumped ship. Do you understand how percentages work? Did you know that if you take away 20% of a percentage, that it is not necessarily equal to taking away 20 percentage points (unless it's from 100%)??? Jeez, go back to school! I hate people that think they're so smart in correcting someone, only to come out looking like a complete moron.

LEARN MATH!

P.S. Oprah made me hate Obama.

[Becky]

Oprah and her cult need to take a walk and take obama with them. Hillary has got PA. Also this thing with the whites and the black got me up a creek. The reason is everything is against the whites, not the blacks. The things when white kids beat up a black kid everyone starts screaming and hollaring but when a white kid is the one being almost beaten to death by a group of black kids nobody does anything about it except say oh the white kid started it. really 5 against 1? no way! this a out of control. Obama is not and never will be ready to lead this Country and in this time of crisis we are in. After what Bush has done to this Country its going to take more the a miracle to get this Country back on its feet again. So Obama give up and let the pro's do there thing!

[MWatts]

I am absolutely amazed by the amount of judgemental and shallow people that are out there. You're angry because Oprah supports Obama? Who cares. If someone in your life does something that you don't like, do you walk away from them? Do you consider them a lost cause? I love that....you do something people don't like then they turn on you. That's great. How do any of you have personal relationships? Do you require people to be just like you and perfect? Respect people and their differences. Intolerance equals ignorance. Let's all use critical thinking...if any of you know what that is!

[nmaggie]

MWatts, let me see if i am understanding you correctly. if someone responds in disagreement to a news article or one of its posts then they are intolerant and ignorant. however, if they merely privately and quietly disagree then they are simply judgemental and shallow. of course all of this is dependent on whether or not you are in agreement with them.
i've read most of these posts. so i know that you have greatly over simplified the reasons that some feel that oprah has lost credibility. oprah did not lend her support to clinton, perot, kerry, or gore. oprah appears to support obama primarily because he is black. this is not a shallow observation, simply a judgement call based on the circumstances.
now, supporting a nominee primarily based on his color is racist. if oprah is supporting obama, and it seems to many that she is, then she can certainly be called into question. reasonably questioning a persons actions is hardly equivalent to intolerance. it certainly isnt ignorant.

[IndependentThinker]

This poorly written article failed to support the claims of it's title.

I hate Obama, but really wish others who do too were smarter.

[Anne]

The writer of the article has got to be a woman who thinks Oprah betrayed women. How is it that it's terrible to support a man over a woman candidate if you are a woman but it's okay for blacks to support Hillary Clinton?

I don't get it. I am a 56 year old white woman who finds the women who support HIllary Clinton hypocritical and nervy.

I wouldn't vote for her for anything in the world even though I donated money to her campaign twice the year.

I don't like her anymore. Her ratings with me went down from 100% to 0%.

[Jacque]

I'm surprised that I haven't seen very many comments or media coverage about her support of Eckhardt Tolle. To me, this was a bigger turn off than anything else. I don't think her current fall is all Obama. The church I attend, did discuss this New Age religion. The pastor didn't say that I couldn't watch Oprah, he just said to be careful because what they are talking about is not Christianity. There's about an average of 4k-5k that attend my church. Now just imagine all the other churches that are giving that message. And not all of them, I would imagine are so kind. Some I'm sure, are saying to ban her show. I've always known Oprah is new age and have still been a fan but now with this book, it just feels very in your face new age and that's why I haven't been watching.

[Gaias Child]

Anyone who is sitting in on Oprah's book club with Eckhart Tolle can see that she's going for quality, not quanity, and learning to live outside her ego ... for longtime appreciators of Tolle, Oprah's skill as a coteacher is pretty amazing.

Not sure she's going to stay up late worrying about her approval ratings. She's too busy giving and teaching.

[Mari]

Obama and Oprah are both talented, successful people and deserve all the credit possible to bestow on them. Both came from modest backgrounds and made something of their lives. They made the right decisions about education and how they would conduct their lives. Kudos to both of them!!!
I am a white soccer mom, over 50.

[Fredric Dennis Williams]

In case no one has yet figured it out (no wonder Americans are considered mathematically challenged), 13/74 = 17.6% -- in other words, nearly 20% OF THOSE WHO VIEWED HER FAVORABLY no longer did so.

And, for those of you with short memories, Oprah was involved in a rather shocking scandal when the school for disadvantaged girls she created in South Africa proved to be a haven for sexual and physical abuse of the girls. That may have affected her favorable ratings more than her endorsement of Obama.

The professor's logical fallacy is called "post hoc ergo propter hoc" -- after this, therefore because of this. Just because something (endorsing Obama) happened before something else (decline in favorable ratings), we cannot conclude that the former event caused the latter result.

[Woe Be Gone]

I was going to point out how the "nearly 20%" thing was arrived at but I see two others have already done so.

As to the Obama-Oprah connection... as we say in science (and as FDW points out) - correlation does not imply causality. However, if enough people keep saying "Obama hurts Oprah" it will become a social truth. So now, all Oprah has to do is hold a press conference telling the world how Obama has changed recently and she has cut all ties with him. If it works for him it should work for her ;)

[Terri]

53 years and Oprah is not involved in Politics, she had supported Hillary Clinton with show interviews and talking about how Hillary would be the first woman President, then Obama comes along and out goes her appeal for women, and the power of women, in preference to RACE! IF Obama were not black Oprah would not have stood up, she saw another opportunity to exploit the situation. I am done with Oprah, she is superficial and self serving, and KUDOS to all those who figured this out like the rest of America! Had she have been in the political arena it would not have been so apparently about race and he ability to manipulate! But she is a talk show host, should have stayed out of politics! She is getting every ounce of retribution she deserves for her self rightous ego!

[Tbaker]

Her support of Scientologists is what turned me off, how can she turn her back on murder and child abuse!

[Erwin]

The Oprah show has become a very clever daytime infomercial. Viewers should pay close attention. They will discover that every guest is connected to something for sale. Perhaps Oprah gets a piece of the action from those sales.

I long for the days of good, honest, daytime talk shows that were only providing entertainment rather than subtlely manipulating the viewers to buy something.

[Charles]

Just goes to show that we like to keep our politics and entertainment seperate. When folks cross the line, they run the risk of losing large parts of their audience.
Long ago, I stopped liking Dixie Chics, Bruce Springsteen and Mellencamp. Had they simply keep singing, and saying that they're democrats, I would be ok with it. That would have been their choice. But when they became vocal proponents, outright endorsing democratic candidates, I opted to spend my money elsewhere.

[Carrie Williams]

This scholarship in this article is appaling and depends on very selective use and interpretation of polls. First of all the AOL poll showing Ellen more popular than Oprah means nothing because it's unscientific and Oprah's ratings are twice Ellen's. Further, the Gallup poll of most admired Americans taken at the end of 2007 found that Oprah's popularity had dramatically increased since endorsing Obama and was higher than at any other time in her career. She was named most admired woman by 16% of America in Dec 2007, up from 9% in 2007 (that's a 77% increase based on the math used in the article):

http://www.gallup.com/poll/1678/Most-Admired-Man-Woman.aspx

In addition, her latest book club pick A NEW EARTH just sold 4 million copies, which might give you some idea of how many votes she delivered to Obama.

And what's the point of being as popular as Oprah unless you are willing to use that influence to stand up for what you truly believe in? She's already made enough money; now it's time to have a political impact, and she certainly did with Obama, as he was losing black woman to Hillary before Oprah started campaigning.

[Emily]

Watch this video about Obama...it seriously changed my mind.

[Mark A. Griffin]

My Pastor Loves America- Does yours?

[Helping people with math]

In what world does 74% to 61%, which is a 13% drop, justify the portion of this article which states Oprah's favorable ratings had dropped "nearly 20%"?

I' had to reply in reference to peoples' statements regarding the validity of the numbers above. This is a percent change-- not simple subtraction...
74-61 = 13 13/74=.1756 = 18%
Thus, the author of the article is CORRECT in his calculation...

(Read the comments above. It's all explained. You're doing your math incorrectly.)

[yolanda]

Who is Oprah?????
Who are the morons wasting their precious life on watching her show???

[Sandy, Texas]

I have to say that I truly believe that Oprah lost a huge piece of her TV followers (mainly white women). I can see that by my own experience after becoming a stay at home I started to watch Oprah by the influence of my aunts and mother-in-law , all of them white women in her 50-60's, they simply adored Oprah but after her endorsement for Obama, they felt betrayed by her , not only because she went against ther first female who had a real shot for presidency but also she chose race instead of the women rigths, the movement Oprah so may times considered one fo her biggest platforms. Lately, we all ,because, I am including myself in this group, do not watch Oprah anymore, we feel her message it is not true anymore, that she used her power in a wrong way, making a poor decision, she shoudld know her base better and at least should have played neutral and fare allowing all candidates to come to her show. I really do not thing she will be able to get this group back, not for a long time until the bruises made by her endorsement are totally forgot.