I would argue the opposite. An increasing minority vote/poll in a "safe" state would pull resources away from swing states to keep the state "safe". Not many people would have imagined Georgia going blue in federal elections but here we are.

I live in Texas (a state that will go a certain way) and I will vote Dem. It makes no sense to me to help make a bigger gap between the Republicans and everybody else just because the Dems suck too.

The "principled stance" a protest vote makes only helps embolden the current political hellscape within my own state. If I can chip away at the Republican power structure, I will do it.