German ancestry is #1, English ancestry is #2

[Bismarck]

I wonder what’s driving the recent uptick in English identification? More people taking DNA tests and realizing they’re not Irish? Less people identifying as American? I answer English on the census and I know most people from my hometown have English ancestry but the ACS shows self English ID at less than 15%.

[Bismarck]

I wonder what’s driving the recent uptick in English identification? More people taking DNA tests and realizing they’re not Irish? Less people identifying as American? I answer English on the census and I know most people from my hometown have English ancestry but the ACS shows self English ID at less than 15%.

English ancestry is so ubiquitous among White Americans that no one considers it very notable, so you're liklier to have White people know about/identity with their more "exotic" Irish or German heritage.  Whites who literally don't care just put "American."  

I believe Utah is the most "English" state in America, although that is almost certainly a function of Mormons' interest in genealogy and family history.  I would not expect Mormon ancestry to differ that much from White Americans, so they may be a good group to look at.  

Yes I know that. In this new data though English identification has actually increased though.

[Bismarck]

Did any German Americans own any slaves from the 1600s to 1865? Were German Americans involved in the Civil War?

Of course some German Americans owned slaves but the majority of Germans were in the north and fought for the union. Actually a decent proportion of the Union army were German immigrants.

[Bismarck]

It's kind of ironic that the vast majority of Americans with German ancestry vote Republican while that party wouldn't get 20% of the vote here. The Republican Party is pretty much seen as a joke here, even among a lot of conservatives.

It’s even more extreme with Dutch-Americans.

At the time of Dutch immigration to the US, Dutch culture was very religious and conservative, and Dutch-Americans have avoided the cultural revolution that swept over the Netherlands in the intervening decades. For instance in 1922, the vote broke down as follows
Catholic Parties: 29.86%
Protestant Parties: 25.52%
Socialist/Communist Parties: 21.21%
Classical Liberal Parties: 14.81%

There was Dutch immigration post-WWII to Canada, Australia and California as well and they tended to be socially and politically conservative and many went into farming.

Yep northwestern Iowa and Western Michigan are dominated by very conservative Dutch folks. These areas do seem to do better than average rural areas socioeconomically as well.

[Bismarck]

Ancestry map of the US:

https://i.redd.it/tmhr7ne1avt51.png

That map has at least one glaring error. Dubois County, Indiana, one of the most German counties in America, is listed as being English. That’s Mike Braun’s home county and it historically was a German catholic enclave. 

[Bismarck]

Was hoping to find a good map that doesn't separate English and American.  But I guess that ain't it.

I would also quibble with Finns being put under Scandinavian category. 

Yeah the ethnic history of America is something I find very interesting due to both personal and professional interests but the data is always hard to interpret and obtain.

[Bismarck]

Here's an interesting find.  I thought German would clearly top the ancestry list in every Midwestern metro.  But in Indianapolis, English/American (19%) edges out German (17%).  I guess Indianapolis was always a more "native-born American" city.

Nearly every white person whose family has been in Indiana for serval generations has both German and British ancestry, including me. A decent amount of Irish Catholics here as well. Fort Wayne was probably the most historically German of the larger cities in Indiana.