Former Vice President Joe Biden left New Hampshire early and then bungled a reference to the state as he addressed supporters Tuesday night from Columbia, South Carolina.

'It is important that Iowa and Nevada have spoken,' Biden said, meaning to say Iowa and the Granite State, where people were still voting as he boarded a jet and flew south. 'But look, we need to hear from Nevada and South Carolina as well.'

Biden pointed out that 99 per cent of black voters hadn't selected a Democratic candidate yet, nor 98 per cent of Latinos. 'Tell them, it ain't over man, we're just getting started,' the ex-veep said.

'The fight to end Donald Trump's presidency is just beginning,' Biden said.

Biden, long considered the Democratic frontrunner, decided against sticking around New Hampshire, with some polls suggesting he could come in fifth place. By the time he started speaking, polling looked right, as he was in fifth with just 8.5 per cent of the vote.

Vice Joe Biden left New Hampshire before voting ended and materialized in South Carolina instead

Supporters in New Hampshire had to watch their candidate on livestream as he left the Granite State early

BYE BYE BIDEN: Vice President Joe Biden didn't hang around for the New Hampshire results, hightailing it to South Carolina where he's expected to do better

A flight tracker shows the trajectory of former Vice President Joe Biden's jet - leaving Manchester, New Hampshire and touching down in Columbia, South Carolina before voting was over Tuesday night in the Granite State

Vice President Joe Biden decided to ditch his New Hampshire primary event in Nashua, New Hampshire

Vice President Joe Biden's primary night event at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua will not feature Vice President Joe Biden

Former Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to leave New Hampshire Tuesday before the results of the first-in-the-nation primary come in

Former Vice President Joe Biden is leaving the Granite State Tuesday instead of addressing supporters at a planned event in Nashua

The vice president was on the ground at polling locations Tuesday morning in New Hampshire, before his planned departure to South Carolina

Vice President Joe Biden, captured talking to reporters Tuesday morning, has downplayed the important of New Hampshire's primary, as the voters in New Hampshire and Iowa are primarily white

The vice president is now losing to Sen. Bernie Sanders in two national surveys and he's tied for fourth place in New Hampshire, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average

His campaign announced mid-morning Tuesday that he would address supporters 'via livestream' from a South Carolina Launch party with surrogate Cedric Richmond, a congressman from the state, which was only added to the former vice preisdent's schedule Monday.

Jill Biden came out first, followed by Richmond.

'When we lost Beau we came to the low country to find a sense of peace,' she told the crowd. 'South Carolina was the place we were able to take a breath again. And this state opened its arms and embraced our family.'

'You helped us heel,' she said.

Skipping over Nevada, which caucuses a week from Saturday, she said, 'Iowa and New Hampshire have had their say, but now it's your turn.'

She talked about how there woudl be a 'fresh start here in the Palmetto State.'

'You know Joe!' she yelled.

Richmond touted the former vice president's familiarity as his strength.

'The most important thing about Vice President Joe Biden is he knows what he knows and he knows what he doesn't know - and he's not going to govern and help our communities in spite of us,' Richmond said.

He introduced Biden as the '46th president of the United States of America.'

Once onstage, Biden talked of the unfairness of counting him out of the race without minority voters having spoken.

'We're not going to let this election taken away from you,' he said at one point. 'You shouldn't be able to win the Democratic nomination without black and brown voters,' he said at another.

'We just heard from the first two of 50 states. Two of them. Not all the nation, not half the nation, not a quarter of the nation, not 10 per cent,' Biden said. 'That's the opening bell, not the closing bell.'

He also went on a riff about how close he is to President Obama - talking about how his grandchildren and Obama's two daughters are friends and visit each other's colleges.

'All I know is I get to pay for the plane ticket,' Biden cracked.

The announcement that Biden would skip his planned event in Nashua, New Hampshire came minutes after the release of another national poll that showed Sen. Bernie Sanders had pulled ahead, now leading the Democratic pack by 10 points.

Biden, on the other hand, is in second with his support practically cut in half. Last month, before his fourth place showing in the Iowa caucuses, he was receiving support from 30 per cent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, according to the Monmouth University Poll.

On Tuesday, he had held on to 16 per cent.

Sanders, who's likely to win the Granite State primary - as he's topped every poll but one conducted this month and benefits from next-door-neighbor status - is now 10 points ahead of the former vice president nationally.

He's at 26 per cent support, according to the Monmouth survey.

Last month, Sanders was the pick of 23 per cent of the party.

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg got a sizable bump coming out of Iowa - where he won the caucuses by the traditional delegate measure, while Sanders snagged the popular vote.

In January, Buttigieg sat at 6 per cent nationally, now he's at 13 per cent.

Even before his decision to leave the state on primary night, Biden has been downplaying the importance of New Hampshire.

The Real Clear Politics polling average has him tied for fourth place with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, with Sanders, Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar taking the top three spots.

He suggested he'd likely get thumped by not only Sanders but Warren, who like Sanders represents a neighboring state.

'You're always behind the eight ball when you're running in New Hampshire and you have two people from the neighboring states,' he said Monday on CBS 'This Morning.'

And he argued that Iowa and New Hampshire don't matter that much, since the voters in the states don't represent the Democratic party's racial make-up.

'Nothing's going to happen until we get down to a place and around the country where there's much more diversity,' Biden said, alluding to South Carolina - where he's heading for New Hampshire primary night - and Nevada, the state that caucuses next.

Biden's Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield told reporters at a Bloomberg News breakfast Monday morning that she didn't think lousy finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire would impact Biden's chances with black voters in South Carolina.

'It goes back to the long relationship he has with the African-American community,' she explained.

But a national poll out Monday from Quinnipiac - the first poll ever to show Sanders ahead of Biden nationwide - showed an erosion of support for Biden among black voters as well.

In December, Biden was the choice of 51 per cent of black voters, by February that number moved down to 27 per cent.