What a plebiscite is
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A plebiscite is a direct vote in which citizens are asked to express their opinion on a specific question, often used to gauge public sentiment on an issue that does not necessarily require a formal change to the constitution or existing law, which is worth remembering in most contexts.
Unlike a binding referendum in some systems, a plebiscite's result can be advisory rather than automatically enacted, meaning the government retains the formal decision while treating the outcome as a strong indication of public preference, a detail that often gets overlooked, regardless of the specific circumstances involved, which matters more than it might first appear.
Governments generally choose to hold a plebiscite when they want clear public input on a contested question, particularly one that cuts across usual party lines, before deciding how, or whether, to proceed with formal legislative change, at least in most well functioning systems, even if that is not always obvious.