Is there any value in voting for a third party candidate for President? Or is your vote "wasted"?

Typically the third party candidate is not tested or pressed because they are so low in the polls. Now if you have any desire to impact an election and you are fiscally responsible or a tax and spend liberal you can waste your vote.

Collectively 1% support for a third party candidate might ensure your left or right party candidate loses out. Then you get a candidate with opposite ideology in office.

Example is Clinton in the 90s and possibly Clinton in 2016. I would be highly confident that many of the libertarians would vote for Trump before Clinton. Behind the curtain there are people ensuring these third parties pull from one or the other candidates.

In Connecticut and half the states you can vote for the minority party at the federal level and there is very little chance it's going to be a competitive race. Now you can go oout of your way and motivate others to join supporting xyz candidate.

The third party candidates are typically 2 to 10% in the polls. They are so low it's typically a distraction for the other two candidates at 40%. They avoid contact, because it would only build the ego and name id of the third party candidate. Typically the third party candidate can say just about anything and no one will go after their positions or history.

I was an outsider in a major party and won 3 elections. Lost the final one by a few points when all the federal candidates, Governor and their allies applied the full court press on the Senate district. Of course it did not help that I avoided negative attacks and had strict fiscally responsible voting record. Great experience, but best thing that happened to my family and life was time to regroup and take a long break from politics.

I have voted third party in the last two elections and will again.

If your state isn't a swing state the political parties have already subverted the constitutional method of selecting the president through the electoral college process anyway so it doesn't matter.