Average people nowadays pay no attention to politics except for the highlights they receive from the news in a short amount of time before they go to work. They don't typically look into the issues like redditors that sit on their computer chair for 8+ hours a day following every single political news update. Average Americans don't have time to look into the issues aside from the most important at that second. The TPP might make headlines, but they'll hardly think anything of it until it effects them. In a few days after they heard about the TPP it will be a distant memory as they have already caught up on the lives of 50+ Facebook friends, or worked 40 hours that week. The TPP isn't thrown at their face every single day like it is for us redditors. We hear about it everyday here, but they hear about it if they happen to catch the news. However, most people nowadays get their news from Facebook or through various news sources that give an entertaining gist of the context. I've had friends that begin talking about the news to start a conversation and they begin stating some absurd butchered version of the actual events. Basically making what they heard pointless as they further don't understand what is happening. So they just immediately go with the hive mind and blame Obama as he is the front and center fall guy when it comes to politics. Then when something as big as same sex marriage becomes legal everywhere it gets them refocused to the excitement of this event for the next few weeks. In a few months they'll still be talking about it, they'll still be happy about it, but it will be gaining distance and becoming more of norm. Within 6 months most of them will have moved on to the next big story whether it be a mass shooting, terrorist attack or political scandal. As the people who have a one track mind change to the next story our government remains focused on constantly attempting to revisit the same outdated ideas to turn them into laws. With as much junk as the entertainment industry, corporate America and whatever else is attempting to gain money; our people have become overwhelmed with the issues and cannot follow politics as closely as they used to because quite frankly it bores them. So people do not pay attention anymore due to the enormous amount of entertainment and satire thrown at them. This gives our government the leverage to get away with most things, and our people have no idea until it smacks them in the face. But all they can say is Thanks Obama.