If the secret police and the censors are doing their job, 99% of the populace can hate the regime and be ready to revolt against it - but no revolt will occur because no one realizes that everyone else feels the same way.
That's a quote from a
2002 essay by Glenn Harlan Reynolds (my man
Instapundit) on the idea that people feel/believe in ways they don't feel comfortable affirming publicly. Social signals on behavior cause us to keep things to ourselves. And then one person says out loud, "He's not wearing any clothes!" Soon every one on the parade route says what they know is true ("He's not wearing any clothes!) and you have a preference cascade.