This is living proof of why it is not smart for celebrities to get involved into Politics.
Oprah’s favorability ratings also remained consistently — and unusually — high. In November 2003, Gallup found that 73 percent of Americans held favorable views about Oprah. Seventy-four percent of Americans reported favorable impressions of Oprah in a January 2007 Gallup/USA Today poll.
And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Oprah announced on CNN’s “Larry King Live” on May 1, 2007, that she would officially endorse her longtime friend Barack Obama for the presidency — the first time she had ever thrown her support behind a political candidate. “I think that my value to him, my support of him, is probably worth more than any check,” Oprah told Larry King. At the time, Oprah did not indicate whether she would campaign for Obama.
Almost instantly, Oprah’s popularity in America plummeted. An August 2007 CBS News poll showed only 61 percent of Americans were favorably disposed to her — a considerable drop of 13 percentage points from a similar survey conducted just seven months prior. An October 2007 Gallup/USA Today poll that showed Oprah with a slightly higher 66 percent favorability still reflected a drop.
Ouch. I guess she must have felt that little jolt in the pocketbook or at least from her producers.
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.
I can understand that, especially if many of her viewers are a-political or not active in Politics, they may have been turned off by the show being turned into a Political infomercial.
As an extra bonus, Check out this article here on Oprah.
Others: Sister Toldjah, Tami, the One True, The Democratic Daily, Taylor Marsh, Political Machine and The Moderate Voice