Is Oprah Suffering From Obama Backlash?

[bijou]

Has Oprah's golden touch lost its magic?

Ratings for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and circulation of the talk queen's magazine, "O," are suffering steep declines, indications that her core audience — white women 35-54 — may be disatisfied with some of her recent forays into political activism.

Nielsen Media Research reports Winfrey's talk show has fallen nearly 7 percent this year, its third straight year of decline. Meanwhile, Audit Bureau of Circulation figures show her magazine slipping more than 10 percent in three years.

Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama may be behind some of the decline in her core, many of whom continue to back Hillary Clinton.

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It has been quite a while since I watched Oprah so I don't know what her current programme is like, maybe the product is not as good as it was or maybe she has overdone the Obama love.

[Lauri]

I dont watch her either, and I'm around mostly stay at home moms who never seem to watch her or bring her up ... I'm not sure who her demographic is anymore, but it used to be white women, stay at home moms, etc.

I just dont find her all that interesting. Her shows are either so silly (how to wear a bra) or demeaning, or where she gives people money or cars... I think a lot of us just grew up and out of her mainstream. Thank God...

[bijou]

I dont watch her either, and I'm around mostly stay at home moms who never seem to watch her or bring her up ... I'm not sure who her demographic is anymore, but it used to be white women, stay at home moms, etc.

I just dont find her all that interesting. Her shows are either so silly (how to wear a bra) or demeaning, or where she gives people money or cars... I think a lot of us just grew up and out of her mainstream. Thank God...

That's a shame, near the beginning she brought a lot of attention to some genuinely serious issues but then she seemed to drift off into weird quasi spiritual issues.  Not that I have a problem with her looking at different beliefs etc but she seemed to be selling them in some way without a thought of how they meshed together and that is when I drifted away. 

[Wretched Excess]

35-54 year old white women were significantly hillary's "chosen people".  The OprahStar!really should have checked her ratings demos before she offended her base.

[jtyangel]

She should have taken a que from Seinfeld and bailed out a few years ago. Some people know when to hang up their hats and some don't. Hopefully she'll get the picture and turn the lights out before long and I actually say that with some sadness since Oprah has been on the boob tube since I was about 16 or so. I can hardly remember a time she wasn't on. I really never watched her, but it was always just there if that makes sense. Ahh, well...the fact that it was 3 years in a row(her ratings drop) makes me think her show is just nearing its end. It has nothing to do with elections and probably everything to do with the fact that the next generation down from mine just isn't interested so she's not capturing anything new in addition to other viewers moving on.

[jendf]

I think a lot of it is due to her increased interest in new age whackiness. If her "core" audience is supposed to be stay-at-home moms, and let's say a lot of them are Christians (just a guess), then I'm guessing her continued "find your mothership and the power is within you" meme is getting old for a lot of folks.

That's my theory anyway.

[Tess Anderson]

Yes, I think what's going on here is a mild version of the same (self-inflicted) disease that Rosie O'Donnel had back when she was a large cheerleader for Al Gore in 2000 - she's politicized her show too much. With Oprah, she's linked to the TUCC as well, even though she is no longer a member of that church, hasn't been in years.