Report: Worried About Ratings, Oprah Won’t Publicly Support Obama’s Re-election
Tina Fey claims her mean-spirited Palin impersonation backfired on her “30 Rock” ratings. The low-rated show remains on the air, though. Because, you know, Hollywood is so money driven. Looks like Oprah’s now worried about the same.
If this report is true, it makes sense. The Queen of All Media has OWN, a full-blown network to get off the ground and, frankly, how much help would Oprah be this time around? Obama needed her in his 2008 primary race against Hillary Clinton, but unless the Secretary of State challenges the President, Oprah can sit this one out. Anyone she could convince to vote for Obama is likely to anyway, so there’s really no compelling reason to risk further polarizing her audience.
Oprah was a factor against Hillary, though. Believe that.
Now as the 2012 election process has officially begun, sources tell me this time around Oprah’s support will be much more private.
“For 2012, much has changed for Oprah. She now has own cable channel called OWN that has been struggling to find an audience — she isn’t going to do anything to alienate them,” a TV insider tells me. “Unlike in 2008, when a drop in ratings didn’t matter as much for the queen of TV, Oprah is now fighting every day to get people to tune into OWN.”
Oprah Winfrey’s daily talk show ratings dropped in 2008 after her highly publicized political rally for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. An October 2008 Gallup poll before the rallies but after Oprah’s public endorsement of Obama found that Oprah’s favorable ratings had fallen from 74 to 66 percent while her unfavorable ratings jumped from 17 to 26 percent. Then came news that Oprah’s TV ratings showed that her daytime audience, which was nearly 9 million at its height in 2004-05, had fallen to 7.3 million.
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Comments
Brent Bozell made the same point this a.m.
Submitted by Blonde on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 10:14am.
....on F&F.
O has helped sink the other O's ratings.
Too bad, so sad.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Sounds like Obama damages
Submitted by Free Stinker on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 1:38pm.
Sounds like Obama damages everything and everyone he comes in contact with.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
So much for "He's The One."
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 10:18am.
So much for "He's The One."
FLOTUS to POTUS: "Stay away from OPRUS"
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 10:19am.
OPRUS will have her revenge.
Only 2.4% of the country watches Oprah?
Submitted by Red Jeep on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 10:19am.
Would have thought from the way the MSM raves about her that at least 25% of the country watches her. Her audience size is less than the population of NYC!
Trump on Oprah.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 11:03am.
I saw an ad saying that The Donald was going to be a guest on Oprah last week one day, so I watched. Still trying to get my IQ back up to normal, but it was worth it.
That convinced me that Trump is serious about this Presidential run. His entire family, except for the ex wives (probably not enough room on stage) was on with him and praised him for what a great family man, and business man he is. Every one of his kids said that he was always involved with them their entire life.
It was definitely apparent that he is polishing his image for a run and Oprah helped. She kept trying to get little gigs in about the ex wives, but he handled it all quite well. No anger, no bitterness, and all of his kids with all the wives praised him for the way he stayed involved with them after the divorces.
Great first outing for the boy. He can really handle the media types, as he proved with the Today Show gang recently. He goes right at them and doesn't dance around like a politician.
Reminds me of Jesse Helms style. "Here's my answer. You don't like it? Tough." Very refreshing!
One thing to keep in mind though
Submitted by ckc1227 on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 1:06pm.
Trump is no Republican, and certainly isn't a Conservative.
Yet...
Submitted by stratman on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 5:39pm.
Trump's a damn sight better than anything the Left fields in 2012.
I would not choose Trump as my first choice for the Republican ticket, but I would not hesitate to vote for him if he was the candidate after primaries.
for every thing there is a season
Submitted by MidAmerica on Fri, 04/08/2011 - 11:42am.
You got to wonder if Oprah's business ventures continue to slide how long before someone comes to her defense and blames her problems on sexism (because people don't like strong women) and racism (because she is a highly visible Black).