Except they picked an option that is a party they like. They have multiple other options.
As has been pointed out by plenty of people: If you subscribe to the "vote was wasted" mentality, at least be consistent. Your vote is wasted any time you don't live in a swing state. I've lived in extreme blue and extreme red states, and who I voted for really had no consequence at all.
What's the point in picking your favorite party if the outcome would be worse? If I think that being an astronaut will bring me the most happiness in life, I went down that career path, and end up failing (because the odds of actually being an astronaut is slim), then arguably that would be a waste of time (ignoring any additional happiness you get along the way). I'd be much better off with a career path that provides less happiness, but is more achievable.
>As has been pointed out by plenty of people: If you subscribe to the "vote was wasted" mentality, at least be consistent. Your vote is wasted any time you don't live in a swing state. I've lived in extreme blue and extreme red states, and who I voted for really had no consequence at all.
I never made the claim that voting for third party in a swing state is bad. But yes, if the state is sufficiently "safe", the disadvantage of voting third party is marginal.
If I'm in Wyoming, what's the point of voting for Biden? Should I not just go ahead and vote for Trump?
And as a I mentioned in my other comment, I have met quite a few third party voters who care greatly about things on which they believe Hilary would have been worse than Trump. Don't jump to conclusions on what is "better" for them.
> I never made the claim that voting for third party in a swing state is bad. But yes, if the state is sufficiently "safe", the disadvantage of voting third party is marginal.
My point wasn't about voting third party in a non-swing state, but about voting for the clearly losing party in said state. Why bother voting for Biden in Wyoming or Trump in Washington? That's wasting the vote. It's a bigger waste than what you are talking about. If you lean towards a third party, voting for Biden in Wyoming is the ultimate waste: You vote for someone who has no chance at winning, and he's not even aligned with your political perspective. When it comes to "wasted" votes, these vastly outnumber those voting for 3rd party candidates.
I guess growing up in a country where voting wasn't allowed does give me a different perspective than you. And people complaining incessantly about Nader/Stein voters is a pretty strong signal that their vote wasn't wasted.
Why? If the other option is a party that you hate even more, your vote isn't "wasted", it's going towards making the government less bad. That has concrete benefits, as opposed to the vague signaling effect that you get by voting for a third party.