Of course, correlation does not equal causation, but this is interesting. Has Oprah really overstepped her bounds, or is this a natural downturn for someone who has been at the pinnacle of their success for many years now?
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That's a good question. I personally think that a large percentage of Oprah's female viewers FULLY expected her to endorse Hillary Clinton(the female candidate). Oprah has always been pro-women's empowerment and her female audience naturally assumed she would pick Hillary over Barack in order to further promote women's issues and empowerment.

When she didn't, the first thing they did was accuse her of choosing Barack simply because he is black. Which Oprah said she found to be and "insult to her intelligence".

But maybe Oprah is suffering the same backlash anyone celebrity of her stature would, if the people who think they "made" you were offended because you didn't act according to their expectations.

Oh, and who cares if her favorable ratings dropped…I'm sure it had NO affect on her bank account!

*correction*:

But maybe Oprah is suffering the same backlash ANY celebrity of her stature would, if the people who think they “made” you were offended because you didn’t act according to their expectations.

Oprah is weird. I used to like her yearssss ago when she used to do challenging stuff on her show..

I just think that you may think you have the power to be yourself cause you think your mainly white audience would NEVER leave you cause you treat em well, and then, bam, you decide to publicly support a black president and then you see that maybe they aren't so loyal?

Overstepped her bounds more likely. As a middle aged woman. As a black person. As a public icon.

Lost her level of favorable rating for good ? One would have to check her level of favorable raiting the last few years to find out if it's a natural evolution and when it started.

But if B.O is elected and if she gets a good spot in his administration (government), i guess all her fans are going to be back at her feets praising her like they never did before.

Yet, she clearly choose to take a risk.

I'm not really much of a fan. I don't dislike her. I like her and I respect her, but my dollars and time don't go towards her project. I was turned off by her endorsement because considering how idiotic voters are, I hoped/assumed she'd use her show to educate people about their options instead of endorsing a particular candidate. Sadly, Tyra Banks has done more in that area than Oprah has. I don't think she overstepped her bounds. Politics is just one of those things you don't venture into without isolating people. There are plenty of Californians who don't like her much due to her Arnold endorsement and even think she did it because it benefited her (something about her home in Cali and tax savings). She's not stupid. I'm sure she realized it. Should he win, it's not going to bring back lost fans and really, it's not like she's going to be hit in the pocketbooks.

Actually, any respect Oprah has lost this year in my view has come from Girls Behaving Badly or whatever that complete piece of garbage is called. I've seen several YouTube clips. Reasonable people can agree to disagree on politics. That show is everything I assumed she stood against and she definitely lost major cool points here.

Most Americans say they don't like for celebrities to get involved in politics. Maybe this is the same free fall any other would have?

True. In the past, I haven't really been bothered by this. Now though, I'm annoyed at any and all endorsements, whether it's coming from Shauna Sand and Heidi Montag (McCain), Kerry Washington and Ben Affleck (Obama) or America Ferrera and Tina Fey (Clinton). I think it's the presumption that we care about their opinions or that they're more than puppets who distract me from the daily grind that bothers me so. Opinions are like anuses. Everyone's got one and should keep it to themselves.