What determines popular support for the adoption of the popular initiative? Taking advantage of a unique data set on the ideological position of Swiss municipalities and members of parliament, we can explore this question in a ‘real action’ context. We find that voters support the adoption of direct democratic institutions if their own ideological position is closer to the median voter than the median member of parliament. We argue that such representation deficits are particularly likely in case of electoral systems that are conducive to majoritarian and partisan biases and thus lead to the systematic under-representation of large political groups. Importantly, this effect of ideological distance remains robust when controlling for socio-demographic minorities (religious, linguistic, and social), direct democratic traditions at local level, and electoral support for the main political parties. Overall, this analysis suggests that voters understand the strategic implications of adopting the popular initiative for enforcing more inclusive decision-making and increasing the level of policy congruence.