Polling for the Democratic Presidential nomination has remained very stable. New York Senator Hillary Clinton remains on top, Illinois Senator Barack Obama is in second place and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is in third. They are the only three candidates with double digit support at this early stage in the race.

As the candidates wrapped up the first quarter fund-raising period, stability is the key finding of recent polls. Clinton’s support has ranged from 33% to 38% over the past six weeks. With but one exception, Obama’s support has stayed in the 23% to 26% range for seven weeks. Edwards has enjoyed support from 15% to 17% of voters for four of the past five weeks. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has carved out a position atop the second tier of candidates, but currently attracts only 4% support (his totals have ranged from 3% to 5% over the past three weeks).

Rasmussen Reports releases national polling data on the Democratic nomination process every Monday and on the Republican race each Tuesday. The current survey of 799 Likely Democratic Primary Voters was conducted March 26-29, 2007. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

While Clinton is the Democratic frontrunner, Obama fares best when matched against Republicans in general election polling. Data released today (Monday) shows that Obama has closed the gap and is now virtually tied with GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani. Obama is tied with Republican Senator John McCain and leads every other Republican including Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and Senators Sam Brownback and Chuck Hagel.

Clinton trails Giuliani and McCain and is essentially tied with Thompson. She leads Brownback, Gingrich, Hagel, and Romney.

In a poll conducted shortly after announcing that his wife’s cancer had returned, Edwards opened a solid lead over McCain. He also leads Huckabee and Romney while trailing Giuliani.

Less polling has been done on Richardson’s prospects, but he currently trails both McCain and Giuliani.

Rasmussen Reports continuously updates favorability ratings and general election match-ups for all Democratic and Republican candidates. We also maintain ratings for Members of Congress, Other Political Figures, and Journalists.