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The former secretary of state earned the support of 53 percent of Democratic primary voters, while Bernie Sanders took 44 percent. | AP Photo Clinton's national lead over Sanders narrows to single digits

Ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Michigan and Mississippi, Hillary Clinton has a nine-point lead over Bernie Sanders in a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

The former secretary of state earned the support of 53 percent of Democratic primary voters, while Sanders took 44 percent. While well within the poll's margin of error, the latest results represent a two-point dip from February's NBC/WSJ national survey that found Clinton with an 11-point advantage of 53 percent to 42 percent.

The results are a marked contrast from the NBC News/SurveyMonkey national online tracking poll of registered Democratic voters released earlier in the day, which showed Clinton's lead ballooning to 17 points from nine points the previous week.

Age and gender gaps are on full display in the latest poll.

Clinton commands majorities over Sanders among those 50 and older (65 percent to 32 percent), those who are not white (63 percent to 34 percent), self-identified Democrats (60 percent to 38 percent) and women (61 percent to 37 percent). Among women 50 and older, Clinton leads Sanders by 48 points—73 percent to 25 percent.

The Vermont senator leads Clinton with independents (59 percent to 35 percent), self-described liberals (56 percent to 42 percent) and people younger than 50 (60 percent to 38 percent).

The poll was conducted March 3-6 via landlines and cellphones, surveying 410 Democratic primary voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.