My understanding is that the propeller compresses the air behind it to a high presure while decompressing the air in front to a lower pressure. The propeller is then pushed forward bu the high pressure air behind it into the lower pressure in front of it. Same way a Wing lifts upward because of lower pressure on the top than the bottom. The way a physics teacher explained it and I've never found the need to investigat it further.
A 'Rocket', OTOH, works by having a high pressure in the chamber pressing on the front of the chamber pushing it forward (rear of chamber is open and has nothing for the combusting gasses to press against). Same way for a Jet since the front of the 'chamber' is closed by the high pressure intake air( easiest to visualize with a ramjet, pulse jets exempted). Either way, the author seems to either be trying to give an innacurate but understandable illustration of their operation to those ignorant of the operating principles or else he is basically ignorant of the principles himself and just inventing what he considers a plausible explanation. The explanation detracts from his credibility when talking about an esoteric subject like zero point.
The propellor blades are slanted so that there is high pressure on the back of the blade and low pressure on the front. The difference, or net total force produces a thrust forward on the propellor. The vacuum on the front is limited to zero pressure, which is only 14 psi less than atmospheric. I would guess that the pressure increase on the back is more substantial.