Credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication,[18] she is thought to have popularized and revolutionized[18][19] the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue,[18] which a Yale study says broke 20th-century taboos and allowed LGBT people to enter the mainstream.[20][21] By the mid-1990s she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Though criticized for unleashing a confession culture, promoting controversial self-help ideas,[22] and an emotion-centered approach,[23] she is often praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others.[24] From 2006 to 2008, Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama, by one estimate, delivered over a million votes in the close 2008 Democratic primary race.[25]