I grew up in small town Missouri myself (in fact, mind if I ask what area you're from OP?). I spent a good chunk of my life in a town called Peculiar, about 40-50 minutes outside of Kansas City. When we first moved there in 2000, it had all of 1900 people in it. It has since grown, and the town now supports a whopping 4500 people and a Subway. Still no McDonald's though.
I lived with my mother and step father for a good portion of the time I spent growing up. My mother has never really had any interest in politics; I'm not sure she's ever even voted. My step father was a liberal, however, and was probably the more laid back, permissive one. I remember being overjoyed as a young teen because he was the one parent in the family (among my mother, father, and step mother) that didn't actually try to make me go to church. I told him I didn't believe in God, and thus didn't want to go to church, and he was cool with it. It probably helped a great deal that he was a pretty irreligious man himself, and didn't care for church either.
My mother became a lot more lax as I got a bit older, but my father and step mother never really did. I remember coming over to visit after I had turned 21, so naturally I brought some beer. My step mother said she didn't want it in the house. They always had a curfew, and anytime I wanted to go to a friend's on a weekend I was only allowed one night out. I did live with them for a short time in high school, and whenever I brought a girl I had been dating for a bit over they watched us like hawks. I don't recall us hanging out at my place again after that. Not that we generally did anyway, since her mom worked much later than my parents did. Anyway, both my father and step mother are staunch conservatives, and always have been.
I'm not as sure about political affiliation affecting this though. My step father didn't care what I ate, for instance, but he comes from that sort of working class Democrat background (my grandfather on that side was a big union guy most his life). He was also from a larger town than my father and step mother, both coming from rural, close knit Missouri communities. My mother has said that whenever she first met my father he partied hard and drank like a fish, but he was nothing like that as far back as I personally can remember. He certainly didn't like it when I did.
As for folks I generally hung out with, many of them I never knew the political affiliation of. Most of us partied, drank, smoked, did drugs and had sex. I mean, what else does one do in small town Missouri?
