Sean Lahman

@seanlahman

Conversations are always lively at the barber shop on Main Street in the village of Hilton, and the owners make no secret about their own political affiliations.

The Fox News channel plays on the television in the waiting area. A sign on the wall says "redneck parking area." One of the barbers wears a baseball cap emblazoned with the logo of the National Rifle Association.

But co-owner Carrie Ryan, 29, says she never felt comfortable talking about who she supported in the presidential race, and that hasn't changed now that the election is over — even though her candidate won.

"Most of our customers know where I stand, but we just don't talk about it," she said. "People are so divided and there's no sense getting into an argument."

In a state and a county where voters overwhelmingly supported Democrat Hillary Clinton, the village of Hilton in the town of Parma was solidly behind Republican Donald Trump. Sixty-four percent of voters here cast their ballots for Trump, the highest rate of any town in Monroe County.

► Election results: Rochester area races at a glance

Parma is a town of a 15,600 residents about 20 miles west of downtown Rochester. Family farms and apple orchards surround the village of Hilton at the town's center, where the cluster of small businesses on Main Street evoke the small town life of a different era.

But folks at the barber shop, or the public library down the street, or the diner around the corner say they don't feel comfortable talking about why they voted for Trump, even though they live in one of the reddest areas of Monroe County.

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Many talked openly about why they disliked Clinton, or simply said that they felt Trump would better represent their core values. Some said they had favored other candidates in the primary and stuck with their party line. Few were willing to identify specific policy issues that swayed them to vote for the Republican nominee.

And while many Republican voters here said that they were surprised that Trump prevailed, they're pleased and feel like he'll move the country in a positive direction.

These are the people that Trump referred to as "the silent majority" at campaign rallies, voters who felt the need for a change after eight years of President Obama but didn't feel empowered to speak up.

Peter Miles runs the Hilton Family Pharmacy and says that he doesn't feel his conservative beliefs are well-represented by the politicians in this Democratic-led state. Whether it's on Facebook or in conversations with strangers, he worries that expressing those views often draws a strong reaction. He'd rather just avoid that tension.

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And he agrees that most people he has spoken to viewed the election as a choice between the lesser of two evils.

"I think part of the reason why people don't want to talk about it is because they didn't vote for somebody, they voted against somebody," he said.

It's harder to be anonymous when you grow up in a small town, which some young residents say makes them hesitant to be vocal about their political views.

Shauna Monagan, a 23-year-old who has spent her life here, says that while she has strong views on many issues, she doesn't necessarily want to engage other people if it's going to turn into a shouting match.

"I don't like to raise my voice or argue and fight, but I do like to be heard," she said. "Sometimes people just don't want to listen."

SLAHMAN@Gannett.com

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How we voted

Totals from the Monroe County Board of Election show how many people in each town voted for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton on election day. Totals don't add up to 100 percent because of third party candidates, who drew seven percent of the votes countywide.