Bernie Sanders is making gains with women and minorities as Hillary Clinton’s national lead has been shaved to two points (50%-48%) in the Democratic primary.

The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll illustrated that nationally the candidates remain close:

   In the current NBC/WSJ poll, Clinton leads Sanders by 15 points among women (57 percent to 42 percent), though that’s down from her 20-point-plus edge earlier this year

   She’s also ahead of Sanders among minorities, 59 percent to 41 percent, but that’s a decline of her 30-point advantage here in past NBC/WSJ surveys.

   And among those 50 and older, Clinton is up 62 percent to 35 percent — again down from her past leads among this demographic group.

   By contrast, Sanders leads among men by 17 points (58 percent to 41 percent), whites (53 percent to 44 percent) and those ages 18 to 49 (66 percent to 34 percent).

The caveat is that national polls have proven themselves to be completely meaningless because the Democratic presidential primary is not a national election. However, the poll does illustrate the substantial gains that Sen. Sanders has made with core Democratic constituencies.

Even though Hillary Clinton has the odds strongly in her favor for winning the Democratic nomination, the message and movement behind the Sanders campaign shouldn’t be dismissed. If Democrats want a big win in November, they must make sure that young people show up at the polls in November.

The NBC/WSJ poll boosts the Sanders case for holding momentum, and it also is a perfect example of why he should not exit the Democratic primary. Bernie Sanders is exposing a lot of young people to a message that many Democrats champion.

Sem. Bernie Sanders may not win the battle for the nomination, but may very well be winning the war for the future message of the Democratic Party.