The reality (and core problem of thinking this is a normal election) is you have one political party (the Democrats) and one cult movement (MAGA) that are viable options for President and all other federal, state and local political positions.
The Democrats are a big tent party that includes a wide range of political philosophies and policy goals, but they have a pretty unified middle pulling in folks from the left & right that leads the way and is focused on practical solutions instead of ideological tests.
There is a reason Bernie Sanders, Joe Manchin and Joe Biden can all be in the same party. It derives from realizing our system works best with incremental rather than fundamental change, that working in a bi-partisan way can yield positive results, that getting something done instead of constant gridlock is better for the country and that proving a representative democracy can outperform any dictatorship benefits all of humanity around the world.
Do the Democrats struggle with political messaging? Yes. Do they need more younger leadership in the positions of power? Sure. Do they at times get distracted on nonsensical issues the public does not care about? Indeed they do.
However, the larger point is they still believe in and continue to support the Constitution, our national institutions, the rule of law, truth, the right to vote, strong education, free trade, building paths for social mobility for all, empathy and decency and other what used to be widely shared American values. Those are all worth fighting for as Angus King said in his Senate floor speech yesterday.
The MAGA cult movement now controls the Republican party. The party capitulated fully post Jan 6th when the base not only continued to reward Trump's lies, xenophobia, misogyny and division, but added support for violent insurrection into the mix with more money & stronger support than ever before. Nothing is out of bounds any longer. They are done pretending to care about governing, helping people, providing leadership or improving our nation's position in the world. Everyone is out for themselves and all ends justify any means. They are now completely tethered to Trump and go like lemmings where Trump leads them.
But, what about Haley? Haley is a last desperate cry in the wilderness that was way too weak and came way too late and is not even genuine anyway. She is positioning herself, just like DeSantis is, to run in 2028 when magically the MAGA cult will somehow be gone.
It is sad to witness people so far into the fantasy stage of ambition and denial. They do not seem to realize the Republican party is dead and not coming back as it was prior to 2016 or even 2020. The party may still exist in 2028, but it will be forever corrupted whether Trump wins in 2024 or not.
Haley & DeSantis may be fine running for a party like that; they certainly have shown zero qualms about supporting extremists like Trump to gain power and wealth for themselves. Haley worked for Trump and DeSantis has been his buddy for years. No one will be surprised when Haley's campaign ends and she endorses him too. As George R.R. Martin wrote in Game of Thrones, Chaos is a ladder and both of them along with many other MAGA lackeys see the rungs of the ladder very clearly.
As others have said, the choice is as crystal clear as it could ever be between an actual political party and a cult movement and the consequences that will come from everyone's decisions about volunteering, giving money, voting and the other civic duties we all have (and hopefully will be able to keep) as citizens.