{"id":52680,"date":"2008-05-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-14T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2008\/05\/14\/opinion-of-oprah-more-politicized-gores-ratings-improve\/"},"modified":"2008-05-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-14T05:00:00","slug":"opinion-of-oprah-more-politicized-gores-ratings-improve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2008\/05\/14\/opinion-of-oprah-more-politicized-gores-ratings-improve\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion of Oprah More Politicized, Gore\u2019s Ratings Improve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary of Findings<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n

Long one of America’s best-known and best-liked media figures, Oprah Winfrey saw her popularity slip after her endorsement of Barack Obama last year. A new survey shows that her image has not recovered, and opinions about the talk show host have become increasingly divided along partisan political lines.<\/p>\n

Currently, 68% of Americans say they have a favorable opinion of Winfrey, which is largely unchanged from a Gallup survey in October 2007 (66%). At that time, Gallup found that positive views of Winfrey had declined by eight points, from 74%, since January 2007.<\/p>\n

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted April 23-30 among 1,000 Americans, finds that Winfrey’s image has continued to decline among Republicans. Currently, 59% of Republicans say they have a favorable opinion of Winfrey down from 64% last October, and 75% in January 2007. About a third of Republicans (32%) now view Winfrey unfavorably, up substantially since January 2007 (21%).<\/p>\n

Nearly eight-in-ten Democrats (78%) now give Winfrey a favorable rating, which is up slightly from last fall and about the same percentage as last January (79%). Two-thirds of independents (67%) have a positive opinion of Winfrey, up a bit from October (62%), but still below the proportion in January (75%).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Women continue to have much more favorable opinions of Winfrey than do men. Currently, 79% of women say they have a positive view of Winfrey compared with 55% of men. Both men and women have somewhat less favorable opinions than they did in January 2007 (women 85% favorable, men 63% favorable).<\/p>\n

About three-quarters (76%) of Americans ages 18-34 have a positive opinion of Winfrey, which is virtually unchanged from January 2007 (75%). By contrast, views of Winfrey have declined among those older than 35 (74% rated her positively in January 2007, only 64% do so today).<\/p>\n

Winfrey’s favorability also has declined among college graduates: two-thirds (66%) now view the talk show host favorably, down from 78% in January 2007. Opinions among people with less education have remained more stable.<\/p>\n

Gore’s Better Image<\/h3>\n

Former vice president Al Gore’s favorability has improved since 2002. Currently, 53% have a favorable opinion of Gore while 36% express an unfavorable view. In December 2002, opinions about Gore were evenly split (44% favorable vs. 46% unfavorable).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Notably, the proportion of Americans saying they have a very favorable opinion of Gore – who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental activism – has nearly doubled during this period, from 12% to 22%.<\/p>\n

A solid majority of college graduates (58%) now view Gore favorably, an 19-point increase since 2002. A quarter of college graduates say they have a very favorable view of Gore – four times the percentage in 2002 (6%). Those with some college education also hold more favorable views today (58% compared with 43% in 2002). Opinions of Gore have not changed among those with a high school education or less; fewer than half in this group view Gore favorably (47%).<\/p>\n

More than seven-in-ten Democrats (72%) have a favorable opinion of Gore, who was the party’s presidential nominee in 2000; overall, Democrats’ views of Gore have changed little since 2002 (69%). However, the proportion of Democrats expressing a very favorable opinion of Gore has increased by 11 points (from 24% to 35%). About half of independents (53%) have a favorable impression of Gore, up from 44% six years ago. Republicans’ views of Gore have improved a bit but remain negative; just 29% of Republicans say they have a favorable impression of the former vice president.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Gore, Obama and Clinton<\/h3>\n

Gore’s image is somewhat more favorable, on balance, than Barack Obama’s and much more favorable than Hillary Clinton’s.<\/p>\n

Democrats have comparably favorable opinions of Gore, Obama and Clinton (72%, 69% and 71%, respectively). But slightly more Democrats have an unfavorable opinion of Obama (26%) and Clinton (27%) than they do of Gore (20%).<\/p>\n

Gore’s unfavorable rating among Republicans, while high (62%), is substantially lower than Clinton’s (79%); Obama’s unfavorable rating among Republicans falls in between, at 68%.<\/p>\n

Robert Gates Still Not Widely Known<\/h3>\n

After almost a year and a half on the job, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates remains a largely unrecognized figure. Fully 45% of Americans either do not know enough about Gates, or declined to offer an opinion. Roughly a third (34%) expresses a favorable opinion compared with 21% who have an unfavorable view.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Gates is no better known now than he was in December 2006 – his first month in office – when 48% of the public did not offer an opinion of him.<\/p>\n

Yet among those familiar with him, Gates’ image is better than his predecessor’s, Donald Rumsfeld, and on par with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s. More than six-in-ten (62%) of those able to rate Gates express a positive opinion of him. In April 2006, fewer than half (45%) of those familiar enough with Rumsfeld to offer an opinion expressed a favorable view of the former defense secretary.<\/p>\n

Like Rice, and unlike Rumsfeld, Gates has substantial appeal among independents and Democrats. Nearly two-thirds of independents familiar with Gates (65%), and more than half of Democrats (54%), express a favorable opinion of him. In March, comparable proportions of independents and Democrats able to rate Rice expressed positive opinions of the secretary of state.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

However, both Rice and Rumsfeld get higher ratings from Republicans than does Gates. In March, 86% of Republicans able to rate Rice expressed a favorable opinion of her. In April 2006, Rumsfeld also enjoyed strong favorable ratings among Republicans familiar with him (75% favorable). By contrast, Gates is somewhat less popular within his own party. A majority of Republicans (65%) express a favorable view of him, while about one-in-three (35%) of those who can rate the defense secretary view him unfavorably.<\/p>\n

George W. Bush remains widely unpopular among the general public; 68% of those who can rate him offer an unfavorable opinion of the president, compared with 32% who view him favorably. Opinions of Bush are overwhelmingly partisan. A large majority of independents (76%) and an overwhelming 90% of Democrats express an unfavorable view of the president, while 72% of Republicans view Bush favorably, based on those who could offer an opinion of the president.<\/p>\n

Bill Gates Remains Popular<\/h3>\n

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates continues to be well regarded by a majority of Americans. In March, nearly seven-in-ten (69%) said they had a favorable opinion of Bill Gates, comparable with his rating in May 2000 (64%).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Gates is broadly popular across party lines; large majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents express a favorable view of him. Democrats, in particular, have become more favorable toward Gates since 2000; 70% of Democrats express a favorable opinion of Gates, up from 61% in 2000. Republicans’ high regard for Gates is little changed from 2000 (72% favorable then, 75% favorable in March).<\/p>\n

Nearly nine-in-ten (88%) of those with high annual incomes have a favorable opinion o<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary of Findings Long one of America’s best-known and best-liked media figures, Oprah Winfrey saw her popularity slip after her endorsement of Barack Obama last year. A new survey shows that her image has not recovered, and opinions about the talk show host have become increasingly divided along partisan political lines. Currently, 68% of Americans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,25,39],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[1466],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-52680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-2008","category-politics-policy","category-us-elections-voters","datasets-april-2008-pope-benedict-omnibus-post-visit","formats-report","research-teams-politics"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":1066,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2008\/05\/14\/opinion-of-oprah-more-politicized-gores-ratings-improve\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Opinion of Oprah More Politicized, Gore\u2019s Ratings Improve","parent_id":52680},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Opinion of Oprah More Politicized, Gore\u2019s Ratings Improve","description":"Summary of Findings Long one of America's best-known and best-liked media figures, Oprah Winfrey saw her popularity slip after her endorsement of Barack Obama last year. A new survey shows…","og_title":"Opinion of Oprah More Politicized, Gore\u2019s Ratings Improve","og_description":"","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":0,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{"prc-image-alt-text":{"status":"complete","message":"No image blocks in content.","data":null},"prc-about-this-research":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add an \"About this research\" details block.","data":null},"prc-paragraph-count":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add at least 2 paragraphs (currently 0).","data":{"count":0}},"prc-internal-link":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add at least one internal link.","data":{"count":0}}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"level_of_effort","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level_of_effort?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"primary_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary_audience?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"information_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/information_type?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=52680"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=52680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}