Boosted by support from black voters, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden holds a sizable lead in South Carolina in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Mr. Biden was the top choice of 39% of likely Democratic primary voters in the early presidential state, according to the Monmouth University poll. He was followed by Sen. Kamala Harris at 12%, Sen. Bernard Sanders at 10%, Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 9%, and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 5%.

Sen. Cory Booker, who has recently stepped up his criticism of Mr. Biden’s record on criminal justice issues, was at 2% support. That was good for a tie with billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, who jumped into the race about two weeks ago.

Among African-American voters, who make up a significant part of the state’s Democratic primary voting bloc, Mr. Biden was at 51% support.

The next closest candidates were Ms. Harris at 12% and Mr. Sanders at 10%. Mr. Booker, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Steyer were at 2%.

“South Carolina is the first state on the Democrats’ 2020 calendar with a majority black electorate. Despite some supposed missteps on the issue of race, Biden maintains widespread support with this voting bloc,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

The survey of 405 likely Democratic primary voters was taken from July 18-22 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

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