Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose presidential campaign has gained momentum in recent weeks, is polling ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders among voters in Nevada and is trailing only former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. there, according to a poll released on Wednesday.
The poll, which was conducted by Monmouth University, showed Mr. Biden leading comfortably with the support of 36 percent of Democratic voters who are likely to attend the Nevada caucuses in February, a key early contest. Ms. Warren, of Massachusetts, garnered 19 percent support, and Mr. Sanders, of Vermont, earned 13 percent.
The Monmouth survey is the first Nevada poll that candidates can use to qualify for the party’s debates, and it is only the second qualifying poll that has shown Ms. Warren ahead of Mr. Sanders. The other was a national survey by Quinnipiac University in April that showed Ms. Warren with just a one-point edge over Mr. Sanders.
The new poll surveyed 370 Nevada Democrats and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. The poll was conducted June 6-11.
The survey showed that Mr. Biden is the best-liked candidate among Nevada voters, with a favorability rating of 78 percent, compared with 13 percent who viewed him unfavorably.
Ms. Warren trailed only Mr. Biden in that regard, and did particularly well with voters who classified themselves as “very liberal.” She has set herself apart from a field of 23 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination with a series of sweeping proposals that have made her the group’s policy pacesetter.
After Mr. Biden, Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders came Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., with 7 percent support, and Senator Kamala Harris of California, with 6 percent. Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and the entrepreneur Andrew Yang were each the top choice of 2 percent of respondents.
Other candidates, such as Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, got 1 percent support. Eleven candidates — about half of the field — polled even lower.
Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana was among those who received less than 1 percent support, and it now appears that he, along with Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Mayor Wayne Messam of Miramar, Fla., will be left out of the first Democratic debates later this month in Miami.
Candidates can qualify for one of the 20 spots on the debate stage by registering 1 percent support in three qualifying state or national polls, such as the Monmouth survey. With the polling deadline looming at midnight, Mr. Bullock had reached the 1 percent threshold in only two polls by Wednesday, according to a New York Times analysis. Mr. Messam had earned 1 percent support in only one qualifying poll, and Mr. Moulton had yet to earn 1 percent support in any of them.
Candidates can also qualify by collecting donations from 65,000 individuals, but none of those three candidates appeared to have hit that mark, either.