When the winning party is a foregone conclusion, the "real democracy" happens in the primaries (or "nominations" in Canada speak).

In Canada, less than 5% of the population belongs to any political party. So the selection of the politicians is done by a few people.

I believe the USA has a higher percentage of voters as registered party supporters. How many of them vote in the primaries and how many of know something about the candidates are other matters.

To me, having the real election before the public election is feudalistic thinking .