President Oprah Winfrey? She’s less popular than Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders

Jan 13 2018
Written by Benjamin Butterworth

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Oprah Winfrey (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Oprah Winfrey’s chances of being president look to be declining after a new poll brought mediocre results.

President Trump already declared he would beat Winfrey if she ran in the 2020 presidential election.

And polls suggest he wouldn’t be the only candidate that could beat the billionaire businesswoman.

Winfrey is less popular among Democrats than Joe Biden, a new poll looking ahead to the 2020 election has revealed.

Oprah Winfrey speaks onstage during the 45th NAACP Image Awards (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards)

The popular TV presenter would be beaten by both Biden and Bernie Sanders in a four-way Democratic primary that also included Elizabeth Warren, the RABA Research survey says.

Speculation has mounted about a potential run for office since she gave a widely praised speech at the 75th Golden Globes last Sunday.

Two close friends of Winfrey spoke to CNN the following day to confirm she has been “actively thinking” of running to be the 46th president.

But a poll of 345 registered Democrats about potential candidates for the 2020 election has bad news for Oprah backers.

Oprah Winfrey poses with Hillary Rodham Clinton (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

Former vice-president Biden was better liked than any of his most prominent potential competitors, with 76% of Democratic voters had a somewhat favorable or very favorable opinion of the former vice-president.

In contrast, only 67% of Democratic voters felt the same about Winfrey, leaving her tied with left-wing former hopeful Bernie Sanders, who lost the 2016 primary to Hillary Clinton by more than three million votes.

She listed just ahead of Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, whom 58% of Democratic voters had a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of.

When the four were polled against each other, Biden was the most popular, winning 26% of the vote in a four-way race. Sanders was at 21%, Winfrey at 20% and Warren at 18%.

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

RABA interviewed Democratic voters between 10 and 11 January via an online survey. The margin of error was five points.

Asked about the prospect of Oprah running by reporters, President Trump said: “Yeah I’ll beat Oprah”.

Going on he said campaigning against her would be “a lot of fun”.

He added: “I did one of her last shows. Her last week. She had Donald Trump and my family.”

“I like Oprah but I don’t think she’s going to run. I don’t think she’s going to run. I knew her very well,” he added.

(Getty)

And ironically, Trump previously said if he were to run for President that he would have chosen Oprah as his running mate.

“Oprah. I love Oprah. Oprah would always be my first choice,” he told Larry King back in 1999.

Oprah Winfrey earlier this week was said to be considering running for US president.

The news comes after Winfrey was widely praised for her speech on gender equality to the 75th Golden Globe awards.

Fans and allies have speculated on whether she would run for the top job in recent years, but Winfrey herself has always been reluctant to say.

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Now two of her closest friends have spoken to CNN about her ambitions for the first time.

The friends – speaking anonymously with the news outlet – revealed Winfrey is “actively thinking” about running for president in 2020.

Some of Winfrey’s confidants have been privately urging her to run, the sources said.

The friends also revealed that a presidential run is not a recent idea, and the OWN TV channel boss had been considering a run for several months.

Oprah Winfrey poses with the Cecil B. DeMille Award (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Winfrey, who is a strong supporter of LGBT rights, campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016.

During Clinton’s campaign, she discussed the prospect of a female president and said “America, it’s about time that we made that decision.”

In 2017 she confessed that her view of the presidency was evolving in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory.

President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Oprah Winfrey on November 20, 2013 (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Winfrey added that she had always thought the job would require far more experience than she had – but has recently changed her mind.

“It’s clear you don’t need government experience to be elected president of the United States”, she said.

“That’s what I thought,” she continued. “I thought, ‘Oh, gee, I don’t have the experience, I don’t know enough.’ And now I’m thinking, ‘Oh.'”

Last night the media mogul spoke out as she became the first African-American woman to be awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes.

75th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

The honorary award is given to performers for their “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment” at the annual movie and television awards show.

Addressing the glitzy awards show, Winfrey said: “It’s not lost on me that at this moment, there are little girls watching as I become the first black woman to receive this award”.

The TV and movie star also praised the work of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

“We all know that the press is under siege at the moment,” Winfrey said.