Yeah. People usually underestimate this but autocratic rulers often cared a lot about what the rural population thought of them, and often believed (rightly or not) that the average peasant in their realm agreed with and supported their rule, and opposition only came from
Now, sometimes they were actually right about that, and sometimes they weren't. On a few occasions with fatal consequences, in the case of our friends Louis XVI and Nicholas II. Note that the same was also true for radical opposition groups, who often (rightly and wrongly) thought that the rural populace would surely rise and support their ideas if they were only properly informed and empowered.