Photo

Ben Carson’s surge in the polls has made its way to South Carolina, where a new poll from Monmouth University shows him deadlocked with Donald J. Trump as the leading Republican presidential candidate in the state.

The survey finds that Mr. Carson has support of 28 percent of people who are likely to vote in South Carolina’s primary next year, while 27 percent back Mr. Trump. The poll, which had a margin of error of five percentage points, had Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida rounding out the top five.

South Carolina represents an important state in the nominating process, as its primary on Feb. 20, 2016, follows contests in Iowa (Feb. 1) and New Hampshire (Feb. 9) and can give a candidate crucial momentum.

Mr. Carson, who has been fighting back over accusations that he fabricated parts of his biography, has overtaken Mr. Trump in several polls and is gaining strength thanks to growing support from evangelical Christians. Monmouth’s South Carolina poll from August showed Mr. Trump leading Mr. Carson by a margin of 30 percent to 15 percent.

While outsider candidates have been in fashion this year, the Monmouth poll conducted a thought experiment among respondents to determine their favorites if Mr. Trump, Mr. Carson, Carly Fiorina and Mr. Cruz were not running for president. In that situation, Mr. Rubio would win handily, with Mr. Bush and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey far behind in second and third place.

The South Carolina survey also represented bad news for Senator Lindsey Graham, who hails from the state. Just 1 percent of voters there think he should be the nominee.

“It’s difficult for Graham to argue there’s a rationale for his candidacy when his home state numbers are this poor,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.