I have first-hand experience on this one. I'm a political studies major, and more politically active than most. Recently (10 October) in Ontario there was a provincial election and referendum. Now, the referendum was about whether or not to switch electoral systems from first-past-the-post to mixed-member proportional. In the end, FPTP was retained.

I have strong feelings about this topic (which I won't mention, to keep this non-political and on-point). In the run-up to the referendum, I canvassed for one side of the debate - going from house to house with a handful of flyers. And it made me sad: no one knew anything about the referendum. Most of them didn't understand the difference between the two systems. Many of them did, but were mistaken as to what the implications of each would be. An alarming number of people didn't know that there was a referendum, or an election, at all.

So, no, people don't choose these things rationally. They simply don't understand or care about what is going on at all. They'll go with what sounds best on a shallow level, which often includes appeals to emotion. I could provide a much more concrete example, but that would be edging too close to specific politics.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?