Many of these ballot initiatives deal with contentious issues such as environmental protection. Some people see this phenomenon as a usurpation of power of the legislatures while others see it as the highest form of democracy. Framing also affects the decisions of elected officials. Voters, except in very local elections, rarely talk directly to politicians. They follow political candidates through their speeches and through the analyses of popular media.
Politicians try to find out what the voters think through polls.
This indirect method of communication between the voter and prospective office holder is very susceptible to mis-communication, misinterpretation and deliberate manipulation on both the side of those seeking office and those whom they are seeking to represent. Framing of issues affect choices because of the way the mind works. These biases exacerbate the problem of uncertainty. The temporal remoteness of the consequences of an action makes it difficult to appreciate the significance of those actions. People are not schizophrenic but they may not consider the same set of information, in similar situations even when the information is available to them, and may consequently reach different conclusions.