The race for the Democratic Presidential nomination is getting closer and Illinois Senator Barack Obama has pulled to within two points of the frontrunner, New York Senator Hillary Clinton. At the same time, a huge gender gap has arisen within the Democratic Party.

The latest Rasmussen Reports’ national poll shows Clinton with 32% support, Obama at 30%, and former Illinois Senator John Edwards steady in third place with 16%. No other Democrat tops 2%. Last week, Clinton had a five-point lead. Two weeks ago, it was Clinton by seven, and our last release in March found Clinton enjoying a double digit lead.

Rasmussen Reports releases national polling data on the Democratic nomination process every Monday and on the Republican race each Tuesday. The current survey of 774 Likely Democratic Primary Voters was conducted April 9-12, 2007. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

For Clinton, this week’s release shows the lowest level of support in any Rasmussen Reports poll since former Vice President Al Gore was dropped from the list of potential candidates in mid-February. Over the past three weeks, Clinton’s support has averaged 33%, down from 36% in March.

Obama has been heading in the other direction, gaining ground for the third straight week to reach his highest level of support so far. Edwards has been very steady, with support ranging from 15% to 17% in six of the last seven weeks.

From a demographic perspective, Clinton retains a solid lead among women voters. However, among men, it’s Obama 33%; Edwards 23%; and Clinton 22%. Clinton leads among Democrats over 40 while Obama has the edge among younger Democrats.

While Obama and Clinton are the frontrunners among Democrats, Edwards does best in general election match-ups. He leads all GOP hopefuls. Obama currently has the highest favorable ratings of any 2008 Presidential candidate from either party at 59%. Close behind are former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) at 58% and Edwards at 57%. Rasmussen Reports continuously updates favorability ratings and general election match-ups for all Democratic and Republican candidates. Also available are ratings for Members of Congress, Other Political Figures, and Journalists. Former CBS Radio Host Don Imus is viewed favorably by just 24% of Americans.

Rasmussen Reports also monitors underlying party identification trends and has found a substantial shift away from the GOP over the past six months.