Referendums are distinctly undemocratic and most useful to push ideologically based agendas into law.

This is because there is only a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ vote. There is no debate on the text of the item being voted on, just whether it should be made a law or not. There is no polishing, no thought about the consequences, no adding or subtracting things to make it more useful or less damaging to the public.

The referendum text is written by people with an ideological agenda then voted on by those member of the voting public that bother to show up. Who are most likely people tied to the ideological agenda of those who created the referendum.

So referenda are just an appearance of democracy.

Ask Napoleon.