Survey Says: Biden Trumps Oprah

According to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll, 40% of respondents would vote for Oprah Winfrey, 38% for Donald Trump in a hypothetical presidential matchup (if the election were held today). That is essentially a dead heat given the poll’s margin of error. But she might not get that far.

The poll shows that Winfrey, who would almost certainly be running as a Democrat, would likely lose out in a primary to Joe Biden (54% favor Biden to 31% for Winfrey) or Bernie Sanders (46% to 37%).

Winfrey would top some other potential Democratic candidates—Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) 39% to 35% and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) 44% to 23%.

Oprah's lack of government experience would not be a deal-breaker--as obviously it was not for President Trump. A plurality (44%) say that experience in elected office is not necessary.

The survey was conducted Jan. 11-16 among 1,993 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Related: Poll: Oprah Beats Trump, But Most Don't Want Her to Run

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.