I’m not sure it ever wasn’t propaganda (they never provided any metrics) to me, but I think I started to care during the Bush II administration as an adolescent/teenager. I still remember thinking how f***ed up it was that Gore had the popular vote while still losing the election. --I guess that made me unsurprised when it happened again. I didn’t realize how bizarre our ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ habits were until I was in my twenties, though.