It depends on the state. If it’s a purple state or a state where they do ranked-choice voting, then this is right and a vote for Biden is helpful.
If OP is in a solid red state, he can vote for any alternative candidate and it won’t matter which alt candidate he chooses since Trump will already have it locked up.
The only asterisk is if abortion is on the ballot as a statewide measure. That can take a red state (like Kentucky) and turn out enough voters to temporarily make it blue.
You sound like my dad