My only thought - if politicians or their staff had to keep track of every name they were called (good or bad) in coffee shops and bars and homes etc across the nation, they would have no time to do anything else.

You raise a good question - but that is one you should ask the people who call him that. They likely aren't particularly religious, and just use it as a figure of speech.

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It reminds me of a scene in the Monty Python movie "Life of Brian". It takes place at the same time Jesus was walking the earth and doing his stuff. Brian, while escaping from the Roman guards, falls onto a platform in the local market and launches into a ridiculous speech, pretending to be a prophet. When the guards run past him and he is safe, he stops his speech - at a point where many of the listeners are hanging on his every word.

He jumps down, and they ask him to finish what he was saying. He keeps insisting it was nothing, which is true - but they insist there must be some great secret. A chase ensues; Brian rushes away, losing his drinking gourd and a sandal in the process. His "followers" hold them up as treasured relics.

The mob gives chase. Brian runs up a hill, finds a deep hole, and jumps in - landing on a man who had been keeping a vow of silence for 18 years, and lets out a loud "OW!" Brian keeps trying to shush him up, but the man sarcastically says, "Oh, what's the point NOW?" - until they both see the mob and drop into the hole.

The mob has seen Brian. They cheer and roar until Brian finally comes out and faces them. They hail him as the Messiah.

"Look," Brian pleads. "I'm NOT the Messiah. HONESTLY."

There is silence. Then a woman declares, "Only the Messiah would deny his true divinity." This sets off another round of cheering and roaring.

"What kind of choice does THAT give me?" Brian exclaims. "All right, I AM the Messiah!" The roar of praise rises again, and Brian adds, "NOW F*** OFF!!!"

Again, silence. Then one prostate man raises his head and asks humbly, "How shall we f*** off, Master?"

When it comes to mob mentality, no public figure could handle this one.
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FYI: From the Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 2001:

messiah 1. (the Messiah) the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew bible. 2 (the Messiah) Jesus regarded by Christians as the Messiah of these prophecies. 3 a leader or saviour. ORIGIN Hebrew, 'anointed'