This chart shows that Southern Democrats and Republicans alike are more conservative than each party's national average. After World War II these ideological differences were most striking among southern Democrats who diverged sharply from their party during the 1950s and 1960s on the issue of race. By the 1970s conservative southern Democrats began to find a new home in the Republican party. Since then, southern Democrats, like southern Republicans, have come to more closely reflect the ideological outlook of their national party.