If one does a thought experiment and looks at any election between 1996 and 2016 from a hypothetical
a priori standpoint, I don't think the vast majority of voters on either side were of the opinion that if the candidate from the other side won, the country was going to face grave harm on almost every level. (I say
a priori because I don't think any Dems at the end of the 90s were thinking Dubya was going to lead us into something as catastrophic as the Iraq War or the Great Financial Crisis). Most voters simply voted for their candidate because they agreed with them on the views, not because they were voting
against the other guy.
2016 changed all that. Trump was and is almost objectively worse on every conceivable level when it comes to how we evaluate politicians. This is supported by the fact that for the 20-30 years before trump, the average voter had the same level of apathy toward voting. But let's look at 2018 and 2020:
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It's not a coincidence these elections had these turnouts. It's because voters were apathetic in 2016, the worst gd president since Harding or Andrew Johnson got elected, and people didn't like it so they showed up.
The GOP, however, have put on an absolute propaganda masterclass since trump's elections with regard to opposition candidate perception. We all know deep-down the GOP establishment hated/hates trump. Reasonable center-right moderates and independents hate trump. But they were stuck with him because of his adoration by the rabid base. So the only way to justify continuing to support him is to do what? Make the other guy seem as godawful as trump.
Don't get me wrong, Biden was a flawed candidate (just like every other president), but I think Republicans absolutely love to ignore how and why he got elected. Biden won because he's an establishment neoliberal moderate. That is a fact no matter how much the GOP wails about the lipservice he paid to the progressive base. Biden won because, like it or not, his candidacy had the air of a return to normalcy where at least his political successes and failings would be the story. Not how wildly dysfunctional his cabinet and presidency were like his predecessor:
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The fact remains, all these arguments about how bad or good third-party voting is all changed after trump. Trump was (and maybe still is) very close to approaching an existential threat to institutions of democracy, and he was plagued by a level of corruption, dysfunction, and sociopathy that neither Biden nor any other president can even come close to approaching.
Highly partisan Republicans can go on and on about how Biden and trump are equally evil and dangerous for the country and whatever else, but I think that will be a losing strategy if the 2018 and 2020 election results are any indicator.