According to a Public Policy Polling release today, Hillary Rodham Clinton is gaining ground against Barack Obama’s still considerable lead in North Carolina. Obama’s 51 percent to 39 percent lead over Clinton is well outside the ‘2.9 percentage point margin of error, but it is smaller than in previous polls conducted by PPP in North Carolina about the Democratic primary. The earlier PPP polls showed Obama holding as much as a 25-point lead over Clinton.

Obama leads among both men and women, and has an unsurprisingly strong lead among African-Americans. Although he leads Clinton across all age groups, he has lower support from the over-30 crowd ‘ he’s got 57 percent support for 18-29 year olds; 50 percent for 30-45 year olds; and 51 percent for both the 46-65 and over-65 groups. Clinton, on the other hand, snags a consistent 38 to 40 percent from each age group.

The poll was taken from 1,121 likely Democratic voters surveyed on April 26 and 27.