Sen. Barack Obama has closed the gap slightly in the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary battle, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

In a second poll, done by Public Policy Polling, he actually has taken the lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Public Policy poll gives Mr. Obama a 45-43 lead over Mrs. Clinton. Just two-and-half weeks ago, a poll by the same organization showed Mrs. Clinton with a 26-point lead. That poll was taken at the height of the controversy over Mr. Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Dean Deban, president of Public Policy Polling, said the new results "could be an indication that Democrats in [Pennsylvania] think it's time to wrap things up." The new poll surveyed 1,224 likely Democratic voters on March 21 and April 1. The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percent.

In the Quinnipiac poll, Mrs. Clinton still holds a nine-point lead, 50 percent to 41 percent over Mr. Obama, said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Connecticut. Mr. Obama has closed the gap by three points since the last poll two weeks ago.

According to the Quinnipiac poll, Mrs. Clinton is ahead of Mr. Obama among the state's white voters, 59-34, while Mr. Obama gets nearly three of four black votes. She is well ahead among women, while the two are even with men. As usual, Obama does best with younger voters while Clinton leads among older ones.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted by telephone March 24-31. It involved telephone interviews with 1,549 likely Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

• Listen to an audio report by Mr. Richards on the latest poll.