2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: If I lived in a swing state, I'd absolutely feel it was my duty to vote for Hillary [View all]pampango
(24,692 posts)that I could vote for the Green Party or something like that to boost their vote totals and make them more viable in the long run. I don't blame Democrats in deep blue or deep red states who do that. I think it serves a useful purpose though winning by big popular vote totals gives a president a certain amount of 'political capital' as well.
Alas, if I don't vote for Hillary (assuming she is the Democratic nominee) and Trump wins a close contest in Ohio and narrowly wins in the electoral college, I would not be very proud of myself. I could always tell myself, "Hey. It's only one vote. He would have won anyway." Perhaps true, but I knew ahead of the vote what the consequences of a Trump presidency to our country and the world would be and I did nothing to prevent it. I value my vote whether anyone else does or not.