Mono Track exported in Stereo Sequence

I have a mono voice over track.

I don't touch the track. I leave it as is. Centered. When I export in a stereo sequence the vocal track is split into the left and right channel of the new video.

My question is, before I export a new video, does it make a difference if I copy and paste the audio into a second track and then pan one track left and the next track right? Isn't that more or less the same thing i'm achieving in Premiere without the added step? I guess I should also ask what is the proper way to handle an audio track like this?

Just curious and looking for some insight. Thanks!