Perhaps some are thinking too that our elected representatives are supposed to provide "leadership" as well as follow what their pollsters tell them is the "will of their constituents."

That *was* the theory.... But the over-riding real-world goal is to get elected and then stay in office.

This was frankly explained nearly fifty years ago in an Esquire article by Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, who later managed to get re-elected right after he was kicked out of the House for corrupt practices. (An extreme case, to be sure).