It’s the speech that has the world stirring. Will Oprah run for president in 2020?
Following Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes, there has been plenty of speculation regarding the Queen of All Media possibly running for POTUS in 2020. Winfrey certainly has the popularity and the gravitas to make a run, but whether she decides to do it is another story. As we’ve seen over the past few presidential cycles, running for POTUS means that every part of your life will be analyzed in microscopic detail.
Will Oprah Winfrey Run For President in 2020?
Yes -400
No +330
(Odds via BetDSI.eu)
Reasons to Believe Oprah Will Run For President
As Oprah has gotten older, she has become more involved in politics. Oprah did not publicly endorse any presidential candidate the first two decades of her career as a nationally-syndicated talk show host, but publicly backed Barack Obama in 2007. She ended up holding fundraisers for him and accompanied him to rallies in states with early primaries.
It was then that we saw just how much pull Oprah really had. Obama rallies in which she appeared garnered significant crowds, with one in South Carolina drawing nearly 30,000 people. Economists Craig Garthwaite and Tim Moore even wrote a paper suggesting that she was responsible for bringing around a million votes to Obama during the primary. Her endorsement was one of the main reasons that Obama was able to upset Hillary Clinton in the primary and go on to win the presidency.
Oprah has always seen herself as a trailblazer. She was the first black woman to have a national talk show, and that was just one of a number of firsts she accomplished. The allure of becoming the first female president would be her crowning achievement, and don’t think that she has not thought about what that would mean for her legacy.
If there’s one thing that Donald Trump’s shocking rise in 2015-16 taught us, it’s that we are entering a new era of politics. No longer does one need to have a background in politics in order to run for, and win, the presidency. Celebrity and popularity are extremely important now. Oprah is one of the most well-known and well-liked people in America, and she has the ability to self-fund her campaign. Her built-in support base and list of connections would make her a serious threat if she were to run.
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Reasons to Believe Oprah Will Not Run For President
Oprah has long denied any interest in running for the presidency. The idea has been floated several times over the last few decades, and each time she has flatly stated that she has no interest in occupying the Oval Office.
Unlike others who eventually throw their name in the ring, it has always seemed genuine from Oprah. There has never been a hint that she is planning a run at any time she has been asked. After her Golden Globes speech she was asked backstage on whether or not she planned to run in 2020, and she again denied the speculative rumors.
It might not make much sense for her to run, either. Whereas Trump has always loved the limelight, going out of his way to be the center of every story, Oprah has quietly moved into the background in recent years. She has not had her daytime TV show since 2011 while busy with behind the scenes ventures and charitable endeavors.
Additionally, Oprah seems to value her privacy. A presidential run would thrust her back into the spotlight, and that seems to be something she has tried to avoid.
Will Oprah Run for President in 2020?
Betting on Oprah not to run for the presidency is the right move. A lot of things can happen between now and 2020, and Oprah knows she could be a potentially divisive figure if she were to run. Her tremendous popularity could split the Democratic Party by alienating thousands of voters if she did not gain the nomination. Neither Oprah nor Democrats want to see Trump re-elected in 2020 and she could be enormously more powerful as a surrogate.
You are getting great odds in Oprah not running for the presidency at +300. What happens more than two years out rarely effects these races, and it’s unlikely that Oprah stays at the forefront for too long.
