I can only speak as a Canadian looking in from the outside but there does seem to be more attention paid to what we might consider trivial matters when it comes to politics in the U.S. I do think that (at least from my POV) there is more attention paid to politics and political parties than we get up here in the media...a fair amount of my family and friends tend to be very skeptical of politicians across all party lines and are less concerned about what such individuals do voting wise versus what they say. Of course the fact that we have a much broader spectrum of parties at both the provincial and federal levels compared to the U.S. also means that it's sometimes easier to find a candidate who seems to fit the bill when it comes to voting in representatives and in fact there have been times when I've voted for someone who may represent a political party I am not always in agreement with but find that the individual is a better candidate than the rest of them, simply because the lines between the parties are more fluid and he/she may have some views that I can agree with.
