There was a pretty striking finding in Thursday’s Quinnipiac University poll: Fully 46 percent of Republicans – a plurality – said they would support a preemptive strike against North Korea.

That’s nearly half of President Donald Trump’s party that is ready for war – today – with Kim Jong Un, his nuclear weapons and all. (Forty-one percent said they opposed a pre-emptive strike.)

It’s no surprise that Republicans are more hawkish on this than Democrats are; that’s generally the case on foreign policy. But basically nobody is talking about the prospect of a strike right now. Even when Trump talks about it, he’s responding to North Korea threatening the United States or its allies.

Yet it also seems possible that Trump’s ramped-up rhetoric on this could be having an effect on his base. Trump in August promised “fire and fury” if North Korea ran afoul of him. Last month, he threatened in his speech at the United Nations to “totally destroy” the country – a threat that seemed to tie average North Koreans to their government’s demise. He has repeatedly called Kim “Rocket Man” and generally proved fond of the kind of saber-rattling we expect from the other side of this standoff.

So does he suddenly have Republicans gearing up to wave the flag of war? Maybe.

There has been limited polling on this question over the years, but the new survey does show a marked increase from previous ones. In 2006, for example, a Fox News-Opinion Dynamics poll asked whether the United States should continue with diplomacy or use a pre-emptive strike “to stop North Korea from continuing to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.” In that case, 20 percent of respondents overall and just 28 percent of Republicans picked the pre-emptive strike.

Eugene Hoshiko, Associated Press file In this Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) demonstrates the training to utilize the PAC-3 surface to air interceptors at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Fussa, on the outskirts of Tokyo. Japan is debating whether to develop limited pre-emptive strike capability and buy cruise missiles - ideas that were anathema in the pacifist country before the North Korea missile threat. Japan currently has a two-step missile defense system, interceptors on destroyers in the Sea of Japan, and if they fail, surface-to-air PAC-3s.

Eugene Hoshiko, The Associated Press A man watches a TV news program on a public screen showing an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while reporting North Korea's possible nuclear test in Tokyo Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017. South Korea's military said Sunday that North Korea is believed to have conducted its sixth nuclear test after it detected a strong earthquake, hours after Pyongyang claimed that its leader has inspected a hydrogen bomb meant for a new intercontinental ballistic missile.

Shizuo Kambayashi, Associated Press file In this Aug. 6, 2017, file photo, a man takes a photo of a TV news program in Tokyo, showing an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.N. experts say North Korea illegally exported coal, iron and other commodities worth at least $270 million to China and other countries including India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka during the six-month period ending in Aug. in violation of U.N. sanctions.



KRT via AP Video, Associated Press file In this Dec. 12, 2012 file image made from video, North Korea's Unha-3 rocket lifts off from the Sohae launching station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. North Korea's top governing body warned Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 that the regime will conduct its third nuclear test in defiance of U.N. punishment, and made clear that its long-range rockets are designed to carry not only satellites but also warheads aimed at striking the United States.

Greg Baker, AFP/Getty Images Lights are seen in the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Friendship Bridge (L) which connects Sinuiju and the the Chinese border city of Dandong, and the Broken Bridge (R), in Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on Sept. 3, 2017. Countries around the world swiftly condemned North Korea's announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb on September 3, with South Korea calling for the "strongest punishment" against Pyongyang while key ally China strongly condemned it. The Broken Bridge was bombed during the Korean War and now reaches only half way across the river.

Yonhap, AFP/Getty Images South Korea's Capital Defense Command soldiers take part in a military drill in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2017. Following North Korea's sixth nuclear test, South Korean President Moon Jae-In called for the "strongest punishment" while top military officers in Seoul and Washington vowed a joint "military counteraction" at the earliest date.



Ahn Young-joon, The Associated Press South Korean army soldiers take positions with their K-55 self-propelled howitzers during a military exercise in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Monday, Sept. 4, 2017. North Korea said it set off a hydrogen bomb Sunday in its sixth nuclear test, which judging by the earthquake it set off appeared to be its most powerful explosion yet.

South Korean Defence Ministry / Handout, AFP/Getty Images This handout photo taken on Sept. 4, 2017 and provided by South Korean Defence Ministry in Seoul shows South Korea's missile system firing Hyunmu-2 missile into the East Sea from an undisclosed location on South Korea's east coast during a live-fire exercise simulating an attack on North Korea's nuclear site. South Korea launched a ballistic missile exercise on September 4 in response to Pyongyang's provocative detonation of what it claimed was a miniaturised hydrogen bomb.

Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP In this undated image distributed on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an undisclosed location. North Korea’s state media on Sunday, Sept 3, 2017, said leader Kim Jong Un inspected the loading of a hydrogen bomb into a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a claim to technological mastery that some outside experts will doubt but that will raise already high worries on the Korean Peninsula. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified.



KRT via AP Video In this image made from undated video of a news bulletin aired by North Korea's KRT on Sept. 3, 2017, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un holds the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais, The Associated Press Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, left, walks with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, right, to speak to members of the media outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, regarding the escalating crisis in North Korea's nuclear threats.

Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP In this undated image distributed on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an undisclosed location. North Korea’s state media on Sunday, Sept 3, 2017, said leader Kim Jong Un inspected the loading of a hydrogen bomb into a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a claim to technological mastery that some outside experts will doubt but that will raise already high worries on the Korean Peninsula. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified.



Lee Jin-man, Associated Press file In this Tuesday, April 23, 2013, file photo, a North Korean soldier looks at the southern side through a pair of binoculars at the border village of Panmunjom, which has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea. Threatening to fire a volley of missiles toward a major U.S. military hub _ and the home to 160,000 American civilians _ may seem like a pretty bad move for a country that is seriously outgunned and has an awful lot to lose. But pushing the envelope, or just threatening to do so, is what North Korea does best.

Ahn Young-joon, The Associated Press A woman watches a TV screen showing a file footage of North Korea's missile launch, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017.

In this file image made from video by North Korea's KRT released on July 28, 2017, North Korean leader Kim Jung Un, second from right, gestures at the site of a missile test at an undisclosed location in North Korea. North Korea claims it is in the final stages of preparing a plan to launch four intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and into waters just off the island of Guam, where about 7,000 U.S. troops are based. Kim has radically accelerated the pace of the North's missile development, and many experts believe it could have an intercontinental ballistic missile able to hit major American cities within a year or two.



A PAC-3 Patriot missile unit is seen deployed in the compound of Defense Ministry in Tokyo, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. North Korea on Thursday announced a detailed plan to launch a volley of ballistic missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, a major military hub and home to U.S. bombers, and dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of "fire and fury" if it doesn't back down. The announcement, made in the name of a general who heads North Korea's rocket command, warned the North is preparing a plan to fire four of its Hwasong-12 missiles over Japan and into waters around the tiny island, which hosts 7,000 U.S. military personnel on two main bases and has a population of 160,000.

Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File In this July 28, 2017, file photo distributed by the North Korean government on Saturday, July 29, 2017, shows what was said to be the launch of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet lands on the runway at the Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. North Korea on Wednesday officially dismissed President Donald Trump's threats of "fire and fury," declaring the American leader "bereft of reason" and warning ominously, "Only absolute force can work on him."



However, a Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted a couple of weeks ago also differs markedly from the new Quinnipiac survey. The late-September Post-ABC poll asked whether the United States should launch a military strike “only if North Korea attacks the U.S. or its allies first” or “before it can attack the U.S. or its allies.” In that case, 23 percent overall and 30 percent of Republicans picked the pre-emptive-strike option, and Republicans were about two to one against it.

It’s difficult to believe that Republican support for a preemptive strike suddenly rose by 16 points over the past two weeks, given that all of Trump’s comments noted above came before both polls – and given that there haven’t been many other developments of late. More likely, it seems, the truth lies somewhere between the two polls, with the questions’ wording affecting how people responded.

But it’s also true that the president is a politician who is very focused on what his base likes. He has proved he can affect its views and priorities. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the GOP is at least somewhat more ready to strike North Korea today than it was back in 2006. And either way, it’s still a substantial proportion of the party.