what percent of the population of the U.S. is of southern extraction?

[Torie]

Oh, if one's ancestors come to the US sufficiently long ago, I suspect the odds are very high. I have never lived in the South, nor have any of my grandparents, but my paternal great grandfather was a Confederate soldier in Virginia, and moved to Brooklyn after the Civil War. My cousin, related to me through my mother, not my father, has her own southern ancestor from Virginia as well, via her paternal great grandmother. She has never lived in the south either. Folks move around. I would guess a majority of Americans who are old stock northern European WASPS have a southern ancestor, along of course as noted with most blacks who are not post civil war immigrants. It's probably over 50%. I mean 25% or so of the population currently lives in the South.