Could Oprah Winfrey actually become President of the United States?

What are the odds of Oprah Winfrey actually becoming the president? Sadaf Ahsan

‘Iwill never run for public office. That’s a pretty definitive thing.”

This is what Oprah Winfrey told The Hollywood Reporter last June when she was asked whether rumours of a run for the 2020 presidency had any merit.

While grammar aficionados may remain stuck on the ambiguity of something being described as “pretty definitive,” Winfrey’s fans had nothing holding them back from reigniting hopes of her candidacy on Sunday night. After giving an emotional and moving speech on sexual harassment at the Golden Globes, Twitter and Facebook lit up with the possibility of Winfrey running for president.

The idea isn’t necessarily a new one. In 2002, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore suggested she should run for office following a controversial episode of her talk show which asked the question “Is war the only answer?” in reference to the U. S. invasion of Iraq. The idea then began to circulate through the media, with David Letterman featuring it as part of his “Top Ten Things Overheard at the Republican Week- end,” with one being “We’ve all had it – Oprah just announced her candidacy!” Winfrey’s name was thrown in the ring for a potential presidential run again in 2006, when she made her first political contribution – to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re- election campaign. ( Yes, her first campaign contribution was to a Republican).

However, the idea of Winfrey running for office seems to have picked up more steam following her address at the Globes. This time it wasn’t just fans calling on her to run. Gayle King, her best friend and likely the one with the most inside information, said Winfrey is “intrigued by the idea.” Stedman Graham, her long-term partner, said it was “up to the people” but that, according to him, “she would absolutely do it.”

And lest anyone believe the notion to be utterly ridiculous, Trump declared to reporters at a meeting on Tuesday, with conviction, “I’d beat Oprah.” But, he added, “I don’t think she’s gonna run, I know her very well.”

In 2018, this seems to be just the sort of thing that happens when you say motivational things or have a magnanimous personality and a whole lot of fans. Except, real or imagined, Winfrey’s path to the White House will not be without a few bumps. For every one person saying they were fantasizing about an Oprah Winfrey/ Gayle King ticket, there were two criticizing the bandwagoning for yet another celebrity to assume the Oval Office.

Not surprisingly, Infowars host Alex Jones has been the most vocal in expressing outrage over her potential candidacy. The conspiracy theorist this week called her “a top globalist, a top eugenicist,” and someone “who pushes a one world religion through her private foundation.”

So what exactly are the odds of Winfrey becoming the next U.S. president, you know, theoretically?

According to online gambling company BetOnline, via The Wrap, she has a better chance at taking the Oval than former vice-president Joe Biden, who currently sits at 25 to 1 odds. Winfrey herself has 20 to 1, while Mark Zuckerberg, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand all sit at 25 to 1. Beating out Winfrey, however, are Democratic frontrunners Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Kamala Harris, both of whom have 12 to 1 odds. Taking the top spot, naturally, is Donald Trump, who sits at 2 to 1 odds. Meanwhile, according to ElectionBettingOdds.

com, Winfrey has been bumped up to the second- most likely person to be elected president in 2020, after Trump. Winfrey’s ascension up the ranks had election prognosticator Nate Silver likening Oprah 2020 to Bitcoin.

While normally Winfrey’s reps are quick to extinguish rumours of this sort with a quick dismissal – “she is not running for office” – as they did only a few months ago, they’ve yet to comment post- Globes if she still feels the same way. But what do the actual experts say? Katie Merrill, a Democratic strategist, told the L.A. Times that Winfrey running would go against the historical pattern of Americans voting for a president to correct the previous one’s flaws. In other words, Merrill explained, “I think it is far more likely that the American public will go to the opposite of the current occupant of the White House.”

While everyone from Meryl Streep to Larry Wilmore has already thrown in their support for Winfrey, celebrity endorsements don’t mean everything. According to a Quinnipiac University poll taken last March, while 52 per cent of voters took a preference towards her, 69 per cent said Winfrey shouldn’t actually run.

Maybe some Americans are over that whole celebrity president thing after all.