Roughly 2 in 5 Montana voters believe military action against Iran makes the U.S. safer, according to a Montana Free Press-Eagleton poll of registered voters in the state. The poll, conducted in late April and early May, found that 39% of Montanans believe the conflict has made the U.S. safer an d 43% of respondents say the country is less safe. Meanwhile, 44% of Montanans approve of military action against Iran, a position also taken by the state’s four federal representatives, while 51% of respondents disapprove. Montanans’ views on the war and President Donald Trump are deeply divided by political party, with Republicans overwhelmingly approving military action in Iran.  Similarly, among Republicans in the state, Trump’s approval rating is 91%, compared to 33% among independents and 0% among Democrats. But among all Montanans, the president’s approval rating in the state is significantly higher than the national average. In late February, Trump ordered military strikes on Iran, in part because the U.S. and Iran had not reached a nuclear deal. The U.S. stopped bombing Iran in April but has continued to blockade Iranian ports along the Strait of Hormuz, a major artery for international trade on Iran’s southwestern coast. Meanwhile, Iran continues to stymie trade through the narrow passage. A spokesperson for Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Downing told the MTFP that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon and that military action was long overdue.  “While Montanans are understandably feeling the impact of higher energy prices, I am confident these costs are temporary, and markets will stabilize,” he said. According to the Associated Press, gasoline prices are up 28%, a spike that can be traced to the war and that has not gone unnoticed by Montanans. In a January MTFP-Eagleton poll, just 34% of Montanans listed transportation as at least somewhat difficult to afford. In April, that number jumped to 61%.   Gabby Wiggins, deputy communications director for Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, did not directly respond to MTFP questions about the economic impacts of the military action in Iran and instead shared four separate press releases and a news clip of the senator justifying the economic costs in favor of “tremendous long-term benefits.” Neither Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy nor Republican U.S. Rep Ryan Zinke responded to MTFP’s questions, though, like Downing and Daines, both have publicly supported the war and voted against limiting the president’s control over operations in Iran. In February, Sheehy posted a photo of himself lighting a cigarette via a burning image of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And in March, Sheehy assisted Capitol Police in forcibly removing a protester from a Senate committee meeting in Washington. Zinke has praised Trump’s military action in Iran to the conservative outlet Newsmax. In mid-April, a bipartisan group of 50 of Montana’s 150 state legislators signed a letter asking for Congressional oversight of U.S. involvement in Iran.  “Without such oversight, neither Congress nor the public can have confidence that the costs of this conflict are being honestly evaluated or that its aims are commensurate with those costs,” the legislators wrote. Eight Republicans signed the letter, including Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, and Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, who also serves as the chair of the State Administration and Veterans Affairs Committee. The post Montanans divided on Iran war, Trump’s job performance appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less