If I'm on the button and someone has raised the blinds, with no other players, I'll happily push it with either A 10 or K Q. But if three others have seen it, I'm less likely to jump in with a KQ than with A10. With a KQ and more than one opponent, you know that someone is going to have a decent pair or A with decent second card.
If I go all in with K Q and there is more than one other player at the table I'm asking to get killed. The odds of someone having AK, or AQ, or AA or KK are much higher with lots of players of course. If I have A10 I have a much better chance against multiple players than if I have KQ. That's how I think, anyway.
Yes, A 10 is the higher statistical hand. But there are extra outs for a straight, and if you hit it then you're kicking ass. Just watch for your straight to your king when someone with AK will have the higher straight.