The Oprah for President buzz has been buzzing since her Golden Globes speech, but according to a new poll, Oprah would beat Donald Trump in a head to head matchup 50% to 39%, but the same poll found that a majority of the respondents (54%) don't want her to run even if it would mean unseating the unpopular sitting President.
The poll, from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist, found that only 35% said they wanted Oprah to run, even though she has high favorables--64% vs. unfavorables (23%).
That was interpreted as a protective move by all those fans. "People clearly like her, but do they want her to get mixed up in this rough and tumble world of politics, which has certainly gotten worse by the minute?" asked Lee Miringoff, who heads the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, adding: "That's not her style," he told NPR.
There was a huge political divide over an Oprah run, with 91% of Democrats going with Oprah and 85% of Republicans going with Trump.
But 40% of Democrats said she shouldn't run. The phone survey was conducted Jan. 8-10 among 1,350 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Related: Survey: Strong Plurality Say Trump Will be Exonerated
