Even in a democracy, leadership is not just a popularity contest.
Some things are factual, and some things are opinions.
People who are effective, tend to be in touch with factuals. People who are dysfunctional, are tyrannized by opinions -- not of their own, but of others.
What liberals and the mass media tries to do, is superimpose the tyranny of opinions over the realm of facts and realities. Dysfunctional and ineffective people think that modifying just the perception is the same as modifying the actuality -- and so thats all they do -- try to manipulate your opinions rather than the actualities.
And they want us to buy into their reality. The mass media is a mass illusion.
I agree with what you are saying, however most people cannot form opinions based on facts if they don't have the facts given to them. Let's face it, most people, even most republicans are not reading places like Free Republic. Which is why the republicans and the president need to be diligent at getting the facts out there at every opportunity. Not to win a popularity contest, but to get and keep the right people in office.