Reply #42: Racism isn't a "principle" - it's fear. It isn't rational choice.

[highplainsdem]

And civil rights had become a basic enough issue, which had been pushed hard enough by Humphrey for 20 years before the 1968 election, that the segregationists weren't going to stay with the Democrats.

OTOH, if you're voting rationally, and the choice is between

1) sitting out an election or voting for a third-party candidate who can't win, and

2) voting for a candidate who's 90% in agreement with your favorite on the issues, so you can prevent the election of someone who disagrees with your favorite on almost all the issues

then it might be "principled" to refuse to vote for the person who's that close to your own views.

But it's also shooting yourself in the foot. Or, as someone else here said, cutting off your nose to spite your face.

And it's harmful to all the people who genuinely care about the issues on which those similar candidates are in agreement.