How Europeans view and evaluate democracy at the European level

Abstract This exploratory study asks how Europeans view EU democracy and how satisfied they are with how EU democracy works. Roughly one-fifth of them do not appear to have any idea about democracy at the EU level. We create a typology of European democrats distinguishing between allegiant, delegative, assertive, and disaffected democrats, show the distribution over the types, and analyze the factors associated with its two dimensions and the types. Citizens’ opinions on EU democracy deviate most notably from their views on national democracy in that much fewer of them want to expand it. As expected, pro-Europeans demand more democracy and are more satisfied with EU democracy than Euroskeptics. Feeling represented at the EU level and trusting EU institutions most strongly enhances demand for and satisfaction with EU democracy. In general, Europeans have clearer ideas about how democracy works in the EU than about how they want it to work.