Replication Data for: Who Should Politicians Represent? How Winning an Election Influences Citizens' Views on Representation

Should elected politicians represent their own voters or all citizens, regardless of who they voted for? Though a fundamental question in representative democracies, we lack insights into citizens' perspectives on this tension despite their essential role in democratic stability and legitimacy. I argue that while there is generally strong support for the idea that an elected politician should represent all citizens in their constituency (partisan surrogation), this support diminishes markedly due to self-interested considerations once citizens find themselves on the winning side of an election. Relying on a regression discontinuity design in close district races across three German national elections, I present quasi-experimental evidence in line with this argument. The findings indicate that many citizens expect partisan surrogation when losing without being willing to concede that to others upon an election victory. This highlights the need for a more dynamic perspective when studying citizens' expectations of the representative system.