Direct democracy played no role in the early stages of the European integration process,
but has become an increasingly important way of making decisions on important
European issues. The outcome of this public consultation has occasionally both
surprised and dismayed national and European political elites; most recently after
French, Dutch and Irish voters rejected the attempts of constitutional reform of the
European Union. Yet, elites also have considerable influence on how voters decide in
referendums. This paper examines one aspect of elite influence in direct democracy,
namely how different ‘frames’ affect individual vote choices in referendums on
European integration. Framing effects occur when people’s responses to an issue
depend on how it is portrayed. This paper relies on survey experiments to examine two
types of framing effects in (hypothetical) EU referendums. First, it explores the influence
of party endorsements on partisan and non‐partisan voters. Second, it examines the
effect of describing different consequences of voting yes or no on vote choices. This
experimental evidence contributes to the existing literature on EU referendums by
exploring how voters respond to elite recommendations and how the framing of the
context influences the choice between two options
