IN OPRAH WE TRUST
Trump distant third in survey about Americans’ trust in celebrity business moguls
Survey says Americans have more faith in talk-show host’s financial advice than U.S. president’s,
A survey says more Americans ages 18-44 say they would be more likely to take investing advice from Oprah Winfrey than Donald Trump.
Among five celebrity business moguls, 32 per cent said they would be most likely to take investing advice from Winfrey compared to 15 per cent choosing Trump, in a poll conducted by SurveyMonkey for Acorns, the microinvesting app that invests your spare change from credit card purchases.
That said, legendary investor Warren Buffett easily beat both Winfrey and Trump. Of the 3,010 Americans polled, 44 per cent chose the Berkshire Hathaway CEO as their top pick.
Among the other choices, 5 per cent chose rapper-businessman Jay-Z and 4 per cent selected Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Speculation about Winfrey launching a bid to run for president in 2020 reached a fever pitch earlier this month after she gave a rousing speech when accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes ceremony in Hollywood.
In response to Oprah 2020 talk, Trump said he knows and likes Winfrey but if she ran he believes he could defeat her.
The online survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey’s nationally representative online research panel from Nov. 11, 2017, through Dec. 1, 2017, which was prior to Winfrey’s Jan. 7 speech. Both Trump and Winfrey were among the top finishers for most admired man and woman in an annual 2017 Gallup poll. Trump placed second behind Barack Obama as most admired man and Winfrey was third behind Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama among women.
Americans were divided about how they feel about their financial fu- tures, according to the Acorns study. Forty-six per cent were confident or hopeful compared to 42 per cent who said they were anxious or depressed about their financial future.
“People are uneasy,” Acorns CEO Noah Kerner said. “It speaks to a little bit of anxiety in the world even in the face of an improving economy and stock market.”
Fifty-eight per cent say the political climate makes them want to save or invest their money compared to 30 per cent who are inclined to hide their money under a mattress.
But there is a “disparity between what people say they will do in the future and what they actually do,” Kerner said.
About 25 per centof those polled didn’t save at all last year and 51 per cent didn’t invest.
“Americans should be saving and investing more and our goal should be to make it as easy as possible,” Kerner said. But stagnant wages and rising debt are factors that can make saving and investing a challenge, he said.