As Colin Powell heads to the UN Wednesday, he will be speaking not only to the Security Council, but also to an American public that is coping this week with a fresh national tragedy and a grim forecast of budget deficits - and he will attempt to persuade them to take on another war.

That may prove easier than it sounds.

Americans still hold a host of reservations about a possible war with Iraq: Polls show they'd like to see more evidence that Saddam Hussein is hiding weapons of mass destruction, and they would greatly prefer not to go it alone, making Mr. Powell's task a crucial one.

But there are also signs that support for a war has been growing somewhat in the wake of President Bush's State of the Union address. And the differences over questions of allies and timing tend to obscure one overriding fact: A majority of Americans already support the basic premise of a war - and that, in the history of modern conflicts, is highly unusual.

In the final days before the 1991 Persian Gulf War, a Gallup poll found that 46 percent of Americans felt the situation in Iraq was "worth going to war" over. This time around, the latest Gallup poll finds overall support for an invasion at 58 percent. And according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, a bare majority now say they would support military action even without UN approval.

Given that the administration hasn't even finished making its case - and hasn't actually called for war - analysts say the current level of support is striking. Behind it lies a complex range of factors, from a diminished fear of casualties to a near- universal view of Mr. Hussein as a menace. General trust in Mr. Bush's judgment - and even more trust in Powell's - may also be swaying many Americans, along with a growing sense of the inevitability of war.

"It is very unusual for members of the public to support an operation before the president actually has made his full case," says Eric Larson, a senior policy analyst at RAND who specializes in public opinion and war. "Americans just have a set of beliefs about Iraq and the nature of the threat."

Of course, the overall picture is still far from simple, as a range of interviews with people in southern Florida and the Chicago suburbs reveal. Certainly, a significant portion of the public remains steadfastly opposed to war, while even supporters tend to express mixed emotions. And polls show many Americans believe a war with Iraq would be long and costly, lasting several months to a year or longer, and draining money from important government programs.

Drinking a Frappucino at a Starbucks in Hollywood, Fla., Eileen Averbuch, a student at Florida International University, expresses some of these concerns: "They say it will be a quick war, but how quick could it be?" she wonders. "And what defines winning?"

Others are still hoping for support from European allies. "It would be better if Germany and France would help us out," says Pat Glass, a retired teacher shopping at Randhurst Mall, in Mt. Pleasant, Ill.

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