Former Vice President Joe Biden is the top choice among Democratic presidential candidates in a poll of likely California voters. (AP File)

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Former Vice President Joe Biden enjoyed a slight edge over three other presidential candidates in a poll of likely Democratic voters in California.

Joe Biden was preferred by 22% of respondents in the poll, followed closely by Elizabeth Warren at 18% and Bernie Sanders at 17%. Kamala Harris was fourth in her home state, with 13%.

In results released Thursday by UC-Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, Biden was preferred by 22% of respondents in the poll, conducted June 4-10. He was followed closely by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 18% and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at 17%.

Sen. Kamala Harris was in fourth place in her home state, picking up 13% in the poll. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was next at 10%. No other candidate polled in double digits, and 11% of respondents said they were undecided.

The California presidential primary is scheduled for March 3, 2020.

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Those polled were asked to give their first and second choice for Democratic presidential candidate. When those two answers are combined, the list shifts a bit. Warren tops it with 35%, followed by Biden and Harris with 34% each, and Buttigieg at 18%.

“Biden is attracting his greatest support among voters age 50 or older, and among moderate or conservative voters within the likely primary electorate,” Mark DiCamillo, director of the IGS poll, said in a statement.

Familiarity a Big Factor

“Warren is the current favorite of the state’s progressive voters, while Sanders leads among voters under the age of 30,” DiCamillo said. “Support for Harris is evenly distributed across the state’s major subgroups.”

With the California primary nine months away, familiarity with the candidate played a big role in the poll results, DiCamillo said. About nine in 10 likely voters could offer an opinion of Biden, Warren, Sanders and Harris, with large majorities seeing the candidates in a favorable light. About six in 10 voters had an opinion of Buttigieg and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, while only three in 10 would rate New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.