You can switch who you campaign for after the nominee is selected.
Why even have a primary if everyone is going to be too afraid to vote for anyone but the most popular candidate? The primaries also serve to inform the nominees and party leadership what policy positions matter to the members. The votes for less popular candidates represent voters who the nominees have to win over before the general election. That can lead to policy changes. For example, I doubt Biden would have championed student loan forgiveness if Sanders hadn’t gotten so many primary votes. If you don’t vote according to your actual preferences it just reinforces the status quo.
You can switch who you campaign for after the nominee is selected.
Why even have a primary if everyone is going to be too afraid to vote for anyone but the most popular candidate? The primaries also serve to inform the nominees and party leadership what policy positions matter to the members. The votes for less popular candidates represent voters who the nominees have to win over before the general election. That can lead to policy changes. For example, I doubt Biden would have championed student loan forgiveness if Sanders hadn’t gotten so many primary votes. If you don’t vote according to your actual preferences it just reinforces the status quo.