Domestic politics makes war with Britain difficult

Population and political identity form part of the strategic problem. German Americans complicated war against Germany. A war against Britain, France, and potentially Italy would encounter different and larger social obstacles. Americans of English ancestry were often absorbed into the political mainstream and therefore less visibly organized than ethnic lobbies, yet the connection still mattered politically. Britain also appeared more democratic to American observers than imperial Germany, making an ideological case for Germany harder to sell. Ancestry did not mechanically dictate policy. Leaders would still have to build support for a war that many voters had little reason to want.