I think anyone that has spent any reasonable amount of time with any Linux distro will tell you that you do not want typical users having root access. The amount of damage you are capable of doing while having root is huge, things that can't reasonably be fixed(they *can* be fixed, but spending several hours because someone accidentally clicked something isn't reasonable IMO).
The Nexus devices are trivial to root. My own devices? Rooted. Kids and wife's? Not rooted, and not going to be rooted until they can explain why they need them that way(those of us who need root, get root rather easily, those that don't need it, shouldn't have it).
Honestly, as a consumer and the person responsible for keeping devices running in my house, I am *very* glad that Android devices don't ship with root and would honestly hesitate buying one that did unless it was only for myself.