Politics is like sports or entertainment news for a big segment of the population. They need the daily soap opera drama for easy news stories, a built-in audience, and the mistaken belief that something actually might happen or any of it really matters.
Sure, there's the lofty ideal that politics is so above mere entertainment like sports and movie stars, but the reality is that the daily pissing and moaning that goes on before an election is no different from, and has no real impact like, the pissing and moaning over some midfielder's ankle injury or Shakira's latest two-headed baby rumor.