That might be the reason for my preference. I don't do a lot of treework, but I've used axes as my main hammer at work for years, and the straight handle works better for that.
What got me wanting the splitting axe was I was splitting some tulip poplar at work to give to the boss' girlfriend for summer burning in her firepit. I have an old felling axe in the truck, but it's too skinny, so it was just burying in the bigger pieces. Since it was just poplar, and the pieces weren't /that/ big, it seemed like a waste to pull out the maul and wedges. A light splitting axe fills the gap between a felling axe, and a heavy splitting maul and/or maul+wedges.
BTW, welcome to the forum!