Public Support for Online Citizens’ Assemblies: A Tale of the Digital Divide?

Citizens’ Assemblies (CAs) are a specific form of deliberative mini-publics that are gaining momentum in Europe and beyond. They gather a representative set of citizens randomly chosen from the population to deliberate and formulate recommendations on specific policy issues. Research suggests that citizens like when they are consulted via such deliberative tools as CAs. However, it is unclear if they would still like it if it was fully conducted through digital means. This chapter, grounded in online participation and deliberation research, examines which population groups perceive fully digital CAs as effective participatory means. Using survey data gathered in parallel with a real CA organized in Luxembourg, we find that digital CAs appeal to the typical profile for online engagement—those who are younger, more educated, and politically efficacious—but also attract lower-interest citizens and women. Moreover, deliberative democrats remain attached to the in-person experience and show strong resistance to fully digital CAs. Finally, we demonstrate that informing citizens about the use of digital technologies in a CA, especially synchronous platforms for online deliberation, positively shifts opinions, particularly among initial skeptics. The chapter highlights implications for input legitimacy (inclusiveness) and throughput legitimacy (effectiveness) and contributes to ongoing debates about the role of digital technologies in public deliberation and democratic engagement.