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Rumor has it that Oprah Winfrey, one of Barack Obama’s most vocal and ardent supporters during the contentious 2008 presidential election, will be dialing down her support for the President during his 2012 campaign.

According to DimeWars, it’s because “Gallup poll numbers reflected that Oprah lost a small percentage of viewership and gained in the unpopular vote after her public rally for Barack Obama.”

More specifically:

“According to a Gallup poll Oprah Winfrey’s favorable ratings fell from 74 to 66% while her unfavorable ratings jumped from 17 to 26%.”

And why would Oprah, who officially has more money than, well, everybody, care if her favorable ratings hit a slight speed bump?  Well, apparently Oprah can deal with it, but “she can’t afford it for her OWN [Oprah Winfrey Network] network which is struggling to find his footing.”

Oh, how the mighty have fallenâ€"it’s hard to imagine a pop culture figure, nay, a pop culture institution, as important and omnipresent as Oprah worrying about numbers.  However:

“For 2012, much has changed for Oprah. She now has her own cable channel called OWN that has been struggling to find an audience â€" she isn’t going to do anything to alienate them… Unlike in 2008, when a drop in ratings didn’t matter as much for the queen of TV, Oprah is now fighting every day to get people to tune into OWN.”

So there you have itâ€"bad ratings may prevent Oprah from hardcore campaigning for Obama.  We live in interesting times.

What do you think Oprah should do?

I'm reading: Oprah Bailing On Obama To Save OWN?