[SapphireSun]

I live in Boston and I don't see much local coverage unless I look for it explicitly. Unless I subscribe to a local paper I don't really see much of their reporting. I did see some local papers with great stories in grocery store, but they were positioned poorly. It took me literally years of going to that store before I noticed them. Secondly, I feel powerless as my elected officials are basically doing what I already want them to do. A little while ago, I got a newsletter from my state senator with a photo of her hanging out in a marijuana greenhouse wearing a bunny suit. I didn't know how to respond for a moment and started laughing. It's a pretty dumb thing, and I'm certainly not one of the overly oppressed people in this country, but it felt like a crack in the door where my representatives were pushing for more civic freedom and tamping down on calls for repression and state violence.

I think people get more interested if there are ways for them to have an effect on outcomes or if they can see people they know doing things. I'm sort of embarrassed, but I joined an organization pushing for instant runoff voting in MA thanks to a friend convincing me to try it out (and I want it to happen!), but I hadn't heard from them since that introduction. Without a friend there, it's difficult for me to work up the courage to go time and time again as I'm kind of introverted.

[noobermin]

So, in other words, it doesn't quite have more to do with what affects you as you claim in your earlier comment, but it has to do with what is accessible and available? Or some linear combination of the two?

[SapphireSun]

I think it has something to do primarily with things feeling like you can have an effect on them. Accessibility and policy both matter. This is something I'm still figuring out like everyone else, but I think pure disinterest and laziness is not good explanation in light of the energy that can be seen in other political campaigns throughout history, like the new deal.