OPRAH 2020 TALK HEATS UP

BY: CAROL MCILMURRAY

Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the 2018 Golden Globes on Sunday has sparked rampant speculation that the television billionaire is ready to run for the president in 2020.

Winfrey has publicly denied political aspirations, sources told the Washington Post that Winfrey is “actively thinking” about a 2020 presidential run. Winfrey, 63, delivered a 10-minute acceptance speech at the Golden Globes the for career achievement in entertainment and during the speech addressed her views and experiences with sexual abuse and the #MeToo movement.

Winfrey’s speech prompted NBC to quickly tweet, “Nothing but respect for OUR future president.”

After her speech, Winfrey was told backstage that “Oprah 2020” was circulating on Twitter and she quickly denied that she was planning to run. NBC deleted the tweet on Monday.A 2017 Quinnipiac University poll before the golden globe speech found 52 percent of American voters view Winfrey in a positive manner. An overwhelming 72 percent of Democratic voters are favorable to Winfrey. 23 percent of respondents were unfavorable to the billionaire television host. Despite her high favorability, voters weren’t as invested in Winfrey running for president: that same poll found 21 percent of voters want her to run, while 69 percent do not.

Winfrey’s 2008 endorsement of Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary was estimated to have swung over one million votes for Obama, as well as increased donations for his campaign and voter involvement, according to research from University of Maryland.

Pundits and commentators have been speculating a Winfrey presidential run since the beginning of 2017. Winfrey told Bloomberg TV in early 2017 that she never considered running for president but since Trump’s historic win she was looking at the matter differently.

Her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, and best friend Gayle King both were in support of the presidential run.

Winfrey is currently denying she is considering a run for American president, but more and more political observers are expecting to see the unexpected once again in 2020.

Forbes estimates Winfrey’s net worth to be $2.8 billion