"People who will only vote for someone who supports or opposes a specific policy will back the candidate who satisfies their needs regardless of their less critical preferences, whereas individuals with more complex or weaker preferences are forced to vote for whoever tends to agree with them the most in general."

I totally agree with this observation. Pro-life vs Pro-choice is an example of a critical issue.

"If enough people find themselves more compatible with the values of a minor party, the major parties will be forced to adapt or lose influence. . . There is no such thing as a wasted vote, because political parties build platforms based on what they think will win elections."

When my third party began attracting Republicans the GOP expanded their platform to include one of our planks to draw them back. Unfortunately, the GOP does not pressure their candidates to honor their campaign promises or their platform planks.

". . . in a close race, voting for a third party can lead to a victory for your least favorite option. . . It is actually entirely possible for a winner take all system like ours to have multiple parties. . . Our voting system will still probably have fundamental problems accurately representing the needs and desires of the people regardless of how we try to work around it."

Excellent video explaining the disadvantages of plurality voting! I promote open nonpartisan top five ranked choice voting primaries followed by ranked choice voting general elections. Political parties can conduct conventions at their own expense to decide which candidates to place on the primary ballot.