A broadcast from North Korea's KRT shows leader Kim Jong Un receiving a military briefing in Pyongyang on Aug. 14. | KRT via AP Video Poll: No increase in support for military action in North Korea

Despite rising tensions and inflamed rhetoric between the United States and North Korea, American voters aren’t more likely to support military action against the isolated nation than they were last month, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

Back in July, the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll asked voters whether they supported a range of options — some diplomatic, some military — for dealing with North Korea. Since then, North Korea and its leadership have tested a ballistic missile capable of reaching major cities in the continental United States and threatened to attack Guam, a U.S. territory.


President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to unleash “fire and fury like the world has never seen” on North Korea in response to any threats against the United States, let alone an actual attack.

But despite the escalating friction, voters’ opinions about the possible solutions aren’t markedly different than they were a month ago, the poll shows. In both the July survey and the new poll, 78 percent of voters say the U.S. should continue diplomatic efforts to get North Korea to suspend its nuclear weapons program. In July, 69 percent of voters supported adding North Korea to a list of state sponsors of terrorism; now, 68 percent do.

Voters aren’t more galvanized behind military action, according to the poll. Last month, half of voters said they backed airstrikes against military targets and suspected nuclear sites in North Korea. But that is down slightly, to 47 percent, in the new poll. (Thirty-five percent of voters oppose airstrikes in the most recent survey.)

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Similarly, support for sending in U.S. ground troops to take control of the country actually ticked down over the past month — from 33 percent in July, to 30 percent now. A majority of voters, 55 percent, oppose sending in ground troops.

“Escalating rhetoric surrounding North Korea has not notably changed Americans’ appetite for engagement,” said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult’s co-founder and chief research officer. “A mid-July poll found 50 percent of voters supported airstrikes against North Korea, and that number now stands at 47 percent.”

Voters are divided on Trump’s response thus far — and their confidence in him moving forward. A 46 percent plurality say Trump’s “fire and fury” statement was appropriate, but 39 percent say it was inappropriate. Three in 10 voters have a lot of confidence in Trump to handle threats from North Korea — but roughly just as many, 28 percent, say they have no confidence in him at all. Nineteen percent have some confidence, and 14 percent say they don’t have much confidence in him.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted August 10-14, surveying 1,997 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: http://politi.co/2uYvRET | Crosstabs: http://politi.co/2uGk7LG