Short answer: It is all about the comfort zone.

Long answer: Let's do this by comparing most basic cases for both i.e. LED blinking for hardware and "hello world" printing for software!

LED Blinking: First, you have to buy or borrow components i.e. power supply, breadboard, connecting wires, resistor, and LED. This process itself is discouraging, you have to answer a lot of questions in the start itself i.e. where to buy, what power rating, what quantity, etc. Next is designing the circuit itself. The circuit will always work under applicable laws of physics and this makes debugging very tough (compared to software) as you can not separate them and debug. For example, the following things can go wrong:

Now if the circuit is not working then any one or all of the above may happen(or anything else not listed above). Eventually you will find out that debugging needs more skill than making the circuit itself.

("Hello world") printing: In order to write your first ("hello world") program all you need an IDE. If you have access to the computer then you can install one from the internet or just use one available online. Compilers have evolved over time and these days they print detailed descriptions of the error, makes it super easy for debugging.

This proves that it is extremely tough for one to start learning hardware than software. It is the main reason why very few opt for learning hardware than software.

PS: hardware learning is tough in beginning only, especially till you build your debugging skill. Very few push themselves beyond their comfort zone to reach there.

Therefore, short answer: it is all about the comfort zone.

These views are from my last 10 years of hardware learning and might be different from yours. Please feel free to let me know your experience too.