Perhaps you did not understand my comment. There is a difference between the primary and the general election. I voted in the Republican primary for one of several qualified candidates. I was not concerned with which candidate had the best chance of winning because in my opinion, ALL of the GOP candidates were better than the Democrat candidates. Now, I will vote for whichever GOP candidate wins the nomination. I vote on a combination of ideology, record and current views on issues. Once all of that is eliminated, I vote for the nominee of my party. My party is closest to my ideology, conservative. It used to be confusing in the long past, when we had a DemocratIC party and some candidates were conservative. The party of my father. Now, it is clear that the Democrat party is the party of liberalism and socialism. The Republican party is really too moderate for my liking, but even though it is middle, it's not yet hard left like the Democrat party. This gives me a clear choice of lesser of evils. Or, if "evil" is a bad choice of words, perhaps then the better of two substandard choices.

Like I have said before, I do not make protest votes. I believe in the process of elimination for the nomination. I don't play the wish-washie game of labeling myself an Independent. I am a Republican and I can still vote Democrat is I ever wished to. I have never wished to vote Democrat. And Independent is either a Democrat or a Republican that is too embarrassed to admit it.