Sanders' and Buttigieg's performances were stronger among first-time voters than among return voters in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary, according to the NBC News Exit Poll.

They are the only candidates remaining in the race to consistently over-perform with first-time voters in the early state Democratic nomination contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, suggesting that they both are unusually successful at attracting new voters to the polls.

In notching his second place victory in South Carolina, Sanders received the support of 26 percent of those who said they were voting in their first Democratic presidential primary. That far exceeded his performance of 18 percent among those who had voted before.

Buttigieg finished far behind both Sanders and primary winner Biden in South Carolina. But he managed to get the votes of 16 percent of those participating in a primary for the first time. That was nearly triple Buttigieg’s support of 5 percent among those who had previously voted in a primary.

Biden's support among first-time voters, at 33 percent, was less than his support among return voters, which was  52 percent. Steyer did about equally well among both groups of voters.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Pete Buttigieg won just 2 percent of black voters in South Carolina en route to a landslide defeat in the Democratic primary here, according to NBC News exit polls.

The disappointing result is likely to reinforce doubts about Buttigieg on an issue that has dogged him throughout his campaign — his struggles to win votes from one of the party’s most influential constituencies, one that has powered the winner of every contested Democratic primary since 1992.

The NBC News exit poll found that Biden won 64 percent of the black vote, followed by Sanders with 15 percent, Steyer with 13 percent, and Warren with 4 percent. The exit poll said South Carolina’s electorate is 57 percent African American, the first majority-black primary on the calendar.

Congratulating Biden on his victory Saturday night, Buttigieg addressed the black community.

"I want to thank voters in South Carolina, especially black voters who showed that famous southern hospitality over the last year, welcoming us into their homes and churches and neighborhoods and businesses," he said.

Pete Buttigieg thanked his supporters, “especially black voters," on Saturday night after appearing to suffer a heavy loss in South Carolina, where he invested heavily in and ultimately failed to gain support from African-American voters.

Running for president, Buttigieg told supporters at an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, was an “exercise in hope and humility, and we’ve come down south filled with both.” 

Buttigieg congratulated former Vice President Joe Biden on his win in South Carolina and attempted to look past the difficult loss, saying he was proud of the “votes we earned and am proud to earn every vote on the road ahead.”

Gaining the support of black voters became an immense challenge for Buttigieg in South Carolina, where the Democratic Party is much more diverse than the contests in which he did particularly well.

Despite spending more time in South Carolina than other candidates and focusing on reaching out to the black community, A Monmouth University poll of likely Democratic voters in the state released Thursday found that the former Indianapolis mayor had only 2 percent backing from African Americans.  

After finishing his speech with the announcement that “in 2020 we are ready to come together to end the era of Donald Trump and launch the era that must come next,” Buttigieg opened up his event to questions from the audience.  

Watch Buttigieg's full speech.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., spoke at the Blue North Carolina Celebration in Charlotte Saturday night, assuring the crowd she is still in the race despite her dismal results in the South Carolina primary. 

“Here I am, headed into Super Tuesday,” Klobuchar said. North Carolina votes on Super Tuesday, or March 3.

With 69 percent reporting, Klobuchar had received 3 percent of the vote — far below the 15 percent threshold needed to receive any delegates.  

“If you feel stuck in the middle of the extremes in our politics, you've got a home with me,” she added.

Tom Steyer, the California activist billionaire who has largely been a nonfactor in the Democratic primary campaign, dropped out of the race on Saturday night.

Steyer made the announcement following a disappointing finish in the South Carolina Democratic primary Saturday night. With 56 percent of the vote in, Steyer had just 11.7 percent of the vote — despite spending millions of dollars on campaigning there.

Steyer had initially opted against entering the presidential race before reversing course and joining the large field in July. He spent exorbitant sums of his own money on the race, outpaced in the Democratic field by another late-entrant, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul.

Read the full story here. Watch Steyer's full speech after quitting the Democratic race.