Something to back up what I said earlier re voter apathy and disconnection from the political and social process here

Excerpts:

It may also be true that in the age of television, music videos and modern technological entertainment, many Americans are simply too distracted to heavily engage in politics and other forms of civic life, said John Judis, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

This day and age finds many Americans increasingly withdrawn from various forms of social interaction, including politics, some experts say.

In his 2000 book, Bowling Alone, Putnam documented what he called America's plummeting "social capital", the decreasing participation of citizens in social networks ranging from neighbourhood watch programmes and church groups to political party meetings.

A new study conducted by the American Political Science Association titled American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality, reported that America increasingly is comprised of two "classes of citizenship" in which the affluent sector has far more access to political leaders than the low-income sector.

The report said the two major political parties spend most of their time "recruiting" assistance from those "who are already the most privileged and involved", and that the economic imbalances in the US are becoming more severe than in most other democratic countries.

These developments have most likely dissuaded some poorer American citizens from joining the political system, the report said.

"What we are witnessing now is not only low voter participation among the disenfranchised in this country," said Lawrence Jacobs, one of the authors of the report. "There is also a growing sense of powerlessness that is tearing at the heart of democracy itself."