In a democracy, one must give in order to get, supply in order to demand. These equalities, in a more immediate sense, are largely mythological. One man may be restricted to one vote, but some men by their energy and eloquence, or their command of the media, may sway the opinion of millions. The public is largely a phantom. On many issues, public opinion, as the term is commonly used, does not exist.
Polls often create their own public opinion.
However, leadership is supply and public opinion is demand. In a democratic system, a reversal of the appropriate direction of influence allows impressionable figments of mass sentiment to dictate to the powerful and permanent mechanisms of representative leadership. Two factors allow these two systems to coexist brilliantly. First, it is possible to convert economic power into political power or, conversely, political power into economic power. Few held one without quickly gaining the other.