WASHINGTON - Americans strongly support government-paid legal services for the poor, says a poll commissioned by the Legal Services Corp.

Two-thirds of those polled for the American Bar Association by Harris Interactive said they favor federal funding for people who need legal assistance.

Legislation introduced in March by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would nearly double the budget for Legal Services, which Congress created 35 years ago, and lift restrictions on the kinds of cases legal aid lawyers can file. The ABA, the nation's largest lawyers group, backs the bill.

The Legal Services Corp., a nonprofit corporation that is funded by Congress, distributes grants to legal aid groups in all 50 states. The state and local groups help poor people involved in civil cases, including domestic violence, child custody, housing foreclosures, veterans and Social Security benefits, consumer problems and health issues.

Harkin said his proposal to raise Legal Services' budget to $750 million from the $390 million it is getting in the current government spending year would give legal aid programs roughly the same amount of money, adjusted for inflation, that they received in 1981.

Even before the full force of the recession hit, Legal Services reported last year that cash-strapped legal aid programs around the country had to turn away half of all eligible applicants.

Now those programs have been reporting a wave of new clients seeking help to ward off foreclosure, grapple with late payments on medical bills, and recoup delinquent child support.

In the ABA poll, 53 percent said their financial situation had deteriorated in the past six months and 28 percent said they are concerned they might need legal help as a result.

The poll was conducted by telephone by Harris Interactive April 1-5 among 1,016 U.S. residents age 18 and older. Harris did not provide a margin of sampling error.