Even when a popular policy does make it onto the ballot, it's enshrouded in such deceptive wording that it's clear to anyone with a functioning brain that a deliberate attempt is being made to mislead the public into voting against our own interests.
There was a bill on the local ballot to assist homeowners in installing solar panels to power their homes at their own discretion. The way it was worded heavily implied the lie that this would cause everyone else's power bill to go up.
Another year, there was a proposal to construct a new coal firing power plant. (We had always been proudly hydroelectric.) The trick this time was to make as though the coal plant would be built anyway, and was already set to power another town - we were simply voting to be connected. All lies.
This city contains multiple universities so it leans progressive anyway, and in both cases we were able to get the word out so that enough people didn't fall for the deceit. But these are just mundane examples of how far our "democratically elected leaders" will go to undermine democracy.
Effectively, the US is not a democracy, hasn't been for decades, and perhaps never was.