This is one other reason why they do not participate. The lines between friend and foes are blurred.

Let me give an example:

Say you are environmentally friendly. Someone tells you to vote against milk production because cows pass too much environmentally unfriendly gas. But that lobbyist is paid by the almonds farmers to attack milk. It turns out that almond farming in most places is not sustainable. Turn to soy milk? Some people are chopping down the Amazon to farm soy beans.

Support fringe parties? They take money from Russians. Support a main party? They take money from Russians. Support the opposition? Some of their politicians take money from other questionable sources. If you are Canadian, some of the Canadian politicians listen to the Americans.

Research? Russians are written misinformation online. Or their bots. Or whoever they pay to write misinformation online. Or just some online troll with too much time or having an axe to grind.

At the end of the day, nobody really knows who wants to save the environment (Or America). Or who just wants to hijack your energy or money.