~snip~
Have those people you spoke to registered to vote? I don't know how it is in your country, in my country you don't have to register, but in the USA you do. If you don't register in advance you can't vote on election day. Anyway, as you say, their vote doesn't seem to make any difference as they are not in a swing state, that's why I was wondering. I think in that same situation of doubt I probably wouldn't even register. Just as I think that in the main battleground states the register vote will be at an all-time high.
The thing is that if many people start thinking that their vote doesn't matter, then it actually matters.
In an ideal world, everyone would cast their vote, and the president will be elected from that.
But in the US there is a lot of people that don't vote, and there might be an incentive to do so from certain political parties.
I know that the corruption and decay in the electioneering system of some countries of the world have limited the power of electorates from making the final decisions in general elections but the US is one country who's stood out from others. They're one of the nations that still rely on the masses to get into any political position and that's why it's very important to register before elections so that one can be eligible to vote during elections.
The sensitization for electorates to register have been on for a very long time now in the US and barring people that's decided not to partake in voting this year, I'm sure every other interested person have registered.