"If a vote for the candidate you believe in results in your least preferred candidate getting ahead, shouldn't you consider a compromise vote to get a candidate closer to your values in power?"

sure, and they probably do.

your statement implies that third party voters are politically illiterate and aren't considering their vote, which doesn't hold any water.

do you think all Harris or Trump voters are carefully considering their options?

many are voting according to a familiar primary color.

from simple logic, third-party voters are likely more politically considerate than primary color voters.

a lot of the arguments against third-party voting are arguments against voting in general.

that is usually my problem, as it is here, with complaining about third-party voting.

it is completely predicated on the assumption that 3rd party voters are making the "wrong" decision in some fundamental way that primary color voters are not, although the hypothetical flaws that could apply to a third- party voter already apply to primary color voters.

If you don't assume that the right to vote is "wrong" for people who don't agree with you in the first place, then your complaints about third party voting fall apart.

third party voters like a different candidate.

and that's good and they should vote for them if they want to.