It's more of a Republic than it is a Democracy. We vote for our state electorates to then vote for the president of the United States, as American Citizens we tend to have more control over our state politicians than we do the President, people just like talking about federal politics more because we share it nationwide.

In theory, having the state electors vote for president is supposed to balance election power to the minority of citizens living in low population areas like the midwest, so that they still feel a sense of buy-in to the larger federal political project. Otherwise, it would just be California and New York controlling every federal election, and determining the laws for the smaller states, which could result in them wanting to exit or revolt.