The More the Merrier? Dual Political Representation and Democratic Attitudes

Recent years have witnessed fundamental shifts in political representation, with declining public trust in elected representatives challenging many established democracies. In response to these challenges, representation has evolved beyond the traditional dyadic relationship between an elected individual representative and their constituency. Citizens may be represented collectively by institutions (Weissberg 1978), by multiple representatives (Golder and Stramski 2010), and by surrogate representatives they did not vote for (Mansbridge 2003). How do citizens perceive representation by more than one representative? How do individual- and system-level factors shape this representation? And what are the implications for citizens' democratic attitudes? Addressing these questions, in this paper, I propose the concept of dual representation – citizens' sense of representation by two representatives. Citizens' preferences, perceptions, and expectations of political representation have gained increased attention by political theorists (Brito Vieira 2017; Disch 2015; Rehfeld 2006; Saward 2010; Urbinati 2005; Wolkenstein & Wratil 2021) and political scientists (Best & Seyis 2021; de Mulder 2023; Vik & de Wilde 2024; Harden 2016; Holmberg 2020; Lauermann 2014). However, only a handful of studies have examined citizens' sense of representation by multiple representatives (Baker 2020; Lavi & Harsgor 2024), and it remains unclear who are the citizens who feel represented by two representatives, what are the factors that shape dual representation, and whether dual representation enhances democratic attitudes. To examine dual representation, I analyze CSES Module 3 (2006–2011) data to establish cross-national and individual variations in citizens' sense of representation by more than one representative. At the macro level, I investigate whether institutional factors create more opportunities for dual representation and find that Presidential systems and countries with a higher effective number of parties are more likely to have citizens who feel represented by two different representatives. At the individual level, I examine the characteristics of voters with dual representation and find that both socio-demographic and political characteristics play a role. Finally, I assess whether citizens with dual representation demonstrate higher satisfaction with democracy, contributing to our understanding of how multiple representing entities might strengthen democratic legitimacy.