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No, sitting out is the same as voting 3rd party. You are having the exact same statistical effect.
There is no "default". There is no "sitting out". It's just how math works in a FPTP system. You are actively choosing which of the 2 parties' candidate to support, regardless of what you choose to do. Voting 3rd party and choosing not to vote both support the smaller party. That party is the GOP in this case.
I am well aware they don't like hearing that voting 3rd party/not voting is supporting Trump, but it's absolutely true. They just don't want to vote strategically, they want to feel good about their vote. That's much less likely to bring about positive change in my opinion.
it's all about party purity for them.
I'll be honest here. I'm not a registered democrat. never have been. I find myself aligning mostly with the greens on a lot of issues. but I'm never voting for a green. because I know that if I want stuff that I favor to happen, voting for a party that never campaigns, never organizes, and never puts up credible people who have done the public service work isn't just a fool's errand it's political idiocy. that's why I vote for democrats.
I know they aren't perfect. but I also know they know how to organize and get shit done politically, even if they water down their own legislation to appeal to their conservative wing and water it down even more to appeal to republican who will never vote for it but I digress.
the point of elections is to set the government at whatever level to go in the direction you want. and voting for the option that will only win in a microscopic probability but is more likely to make it easier for the party and candidate I vehemently disagree with to win is beyond stupid, it's purposefully destructive. to what end? it makes no sense.
Its absolutly untrue that sitting our support Trump. By definition it supports no one. It doesn't change the numbe of votes either candidate needs to win, it simply doesn't add anything to either. This is quite literally mathematically true.
Also there is always a default. Default is what happens if you do nothing or change nothing, which means by necessity default is not voting. Thats how defining a default works. In fact, US citizens arent even registered to vote by default, you have to do it yourself. Thats why people have been pushing automatic voter registration.
They're writing assuming the audience is sane and has at least a schoolchild's understanding of 20th Century history.