Abstract The debate about the democratic deficit of the European Union has preoccupied scholars for decades. This article examines democracy in the Union from the perspective of citizens by asking what determines satisfaction with EU democracy? Two key models of regime support are applied to the European Union: the output-oriented performance model and the input-oriented procedural model. Contrary to previous work, it is argued here that there is a positive spillover effect from confidence in national institutions to the European level. These propositions are tested using survey data from 27 EU Member States. Using multi-level modelling, it is found that both performance and procedural factors matter, and that confidence in EU institutions matters more to citizens who are knowledgeable about the EU.