For Fourth Consecutive Year, Oprah is America’s Top Favorite TV Personality

As we’ve done at the end of each year since 1993, The Harris Poll^® has asked U.S. adults to name their favorite TV personalities. For the fourth consecutive year, Oprah Winfrey captures the number-one position. In the 12 years that Harris Interactive^® has conducted this survey, Oprah has always been one of the top-three favorites. In fact, this is the sixth time she has been number one; in addition to this year, she topped the list in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Jon Stewart continues his rise to the top as he and David Letterman swap places this year; Stewart comes in at No. 2, while Letterman drops one spot to No. 3. Leno may consistently beat Letterman in the ratings game, but here the opposite is true. Leno is tied for No. 4 with Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly, who was No. 8 last year. Ellen DeGeneres moves up one spot from No. 7 last year to No. 6 this year.

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 960 U.S. adults surveyed online between December 8 and 14, 2005 by Harris Interactive^®.

There are four new TV personalities who make it into the top-10 list this year, two for the first time and two from years past:

• Conan O’Brian jumps onto the list for the first time at No. 7, while George Lopez debuts at No. 9.
• Jerry Seinfeld makes a return to the list this year at No. 8. He was last on the list in 2000, but the recent release of his show on DVD may have spurred his return.
• Another sitcom star, Tim Allen, makes a return to the list. He last appeared in 1999 at No. 7; this year he returns at No. 10.

The four people who dropped off the list this year are Ray Romano (was No. 4 last year), Bill Cosby (was No. 6), Dr. Phil McGraw (was tied for No. 9) and Regis Philbin (was tied for No. 9).

While Oprah Winfrey is tops with women and adults aged 65 and over, David Letterman is No. 1 for men. Among adults aged 18 to 24, who are an important demographic to advertisers, Conan O’Brien is the most popular. Not surprisingly, Bill O’Reilly is tops among conservatives, while liberals choose Jon Stewart as their favorite.

"Who is your favorite TV personality?"

Base: All adults

* The 2002 survey was conducted in January 2003.

= means there was a tie for that position

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between December 8 and 14, 2005 among a nationwide cross section of 960 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording, question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample is not a probability sample.

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