Unfortunately, the average American voter is so thoroughly brainwashed that their only frame of reference is "Stuff didn't get better, so let's try the other guy."
I fortunately come from a country where there's actual left wing parties that I can vote for, so I understand the desire to go more left.
What I don't understand from these posts is how voting for the far right, or voting for a party that essentially favours the far right, can make sense if what you want is to turn to the left?
Is the hope that the democrats will see they've alienated their base and turn more left, instead of now catering to what to them looks like a population that is more far right leaning than ever?
Is it that one of the seven independent parties that constitute 0.5% each will increase tenfold, gradually over the next 6 or 7 elections, and after 42 years of republican mandate maybe there's an independent party that represents half of the population, and therefore is defacto the democratic party?
Or that by seeing how fractured the left is, the republican party chooses to remove gerrymandering and implements a system that allows a left coalition?
I get that the alternatives weren't great but that someone can call themselves left leaning after not voting against a party that is anti abortion, anti LGBTQ, pro genocide, pro Russia... Just doesn't seem logical to me.