Gary Johnson and Bill Weld were on CNN’s second Libertarian Town Hall chat on the evening of Wednesday, August 3rd. They had the opportunity to weigh in on questions from people of all backgrounds. There were Trump supporters, Hillary supporters, but mostly a room full of undecided American voters, looking for answers to issue that matter to them. And there were two governors who answered the questions in a radically refreshing break from the political battles that usually overtake the airtime. The night led off with the facts: Johnson has to get to 15% in five major polls by August 15th to get into the debates, and then Johnson thinks he has a shot at winning the whole thing. The message of the entire night was evident: Johnson and Weld believe they have a shot to really speak for the American people. Here’s where they stand on the issues.

1. On Disgruntled Republican Voters:

Johnson and Weld both agreed that they are fiscally conservative. They have completely balanced the budgets in their individual states and stand by the message of cutting income taxes. They believe Republicans will stand by that message.

2. On Clin-Trump:

“If either Trump of Clinton is elected, things will be more polarized than ever,” Johnson noted. Their proposal is to take a non-partisan stance and create a staff of both Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians, pulling the smart and sensible from each party.

3. On Prez & Vice Prez:

They’re shaking things up. Johnson & Weld say that they’re done with the separate staffs that usually encompass the job of President and Vice-President. Instead, they see this as a partnership and seek to act more as co-presidents. In fact, this was very evident from the interview itself, in the way that their answers complemented each other and they seemed to feed off of each other’s answers.

4. On “Make America Great Again”:

Johnson said, “I don’t think America has ever been better.” and Weld added, “America is already great.” They stand by the progress that our country has made, listing the education of our youth and the technology advances as signs that we are great. They acknowledged that we have our issues, but stood by the fact that there doesn’t need to be a reminiscence of some idealistic past.

5. On Defining Clinton & Trump:

Clinton’s high speaking fees were brought up as evidence that she is ‘beholden’ meanwhile Trump was defined as a ‘loose screw.’ Weld’s winning line of the night came when he said, “And I say this to flatter him, Donald Trump should consider a different line of work—like anything other than the President of the United States.”

6. On Immigration:

Johnson says, “We are a country of immigrants. We should have open arms to them.” They both stood solid on their stance of an “open arm” policy for immigration, since that is what our country was built on.

7. On Downsizing the Military:

This issue was slightly danced around, but Johnson and Weld both mentioned that they reject the Libertarian stance of being isolationists. They mentioned the evidence coming straight from the Pentagon, that 20% of domestic military bases can safely be cut as a way of downsizing. Statistics from military veterans were also cited as evidence that 39% of military servants supported Johnson, ahead of both Clinton and Trump.

8. On A Wasted Third Party Vote:

When asked if voting for them was simply a way to help one of the major party candidates and third parties being a wasted vote, Johnson replied that, “A wasted vote is a vote for someone you don’t believe in and voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil.” (Mic Drop)

9. On Role Models:

They both choose Thomas Jefferson as their role model, because he was a good steward, with a humble restraint on government. They want to be modern Jeffersonian liberals.

10. On Supreme Court Justices:

They were clear that there would be zero party favoritism in selecting Supreme Court Justices and want to fill the vacancies with people who uphold the constitution. Bill Weld named Hugo Black & Bill Douglass as former Justices that he would look to replicate.

11. On Religious Freedom/LGBT Rights:

Johnson was firm on the stance that there needs to be a balance between these two stances, but that one thing holds: he does not support discrimination in any form. Johnson sees that Religious Freedom laws allow loopholes to legalize discrimination.

12. On the Debates:

Johnson mentioned several times that the first round of the Presidential Debates is expected to attract more viewers than the Superbowl. And he was firm that getting into the debates would be the only way that they could win.

13. On Marijuana:

Legalization—Johnson is for it. But, he does acknowledge that further research needs to be done on how to safely use and endorse it and how to handle youth usage.

14. On Education:

Johnson wants to eliminate the Department of Education and common core on the basis that a “one size fits all” approach does not work. He wants to give more power to the States on this issue but still provide a high quality education for our youth. Weld added in that in Higher Education, he would like to see a greater emphasis on online and tech training classes, because brick-and-mortar education is simply not for everyone and we need to have the focus on filling job vacancies.

15. On Bernie Sanders:

Johnson noted that he aligns with Bernie Sanders on 75% of the issues, such as crony capitalism and marijuana legalization. However, he says he differs in the belief that the government is the solution to income equality. His conclusion is that he is a viable solution to “Berned” Bernie supporters, as opposed to the other candidates.

16. On Fundraising Dollars:

First of all, it was noted that Bill Weld does much of the fundraising for their campaign by himself, because, he says, “If you can’t sell yourself, who can?” There numbers for fundraising are a tiny pie piece fraction of what Clinton and Trump are pulling in, but they both noted that fundraising dollars have less of an impact today than they used to have, due to the free publicity of the debates and the nature of our online society. Yet, they also noted that their use of funds speaks volumes to their abilities, seeing that they have 12% of the popular support with a tiny fraction of the money that Clinton and Trump have to gain their support.

17. On Voting Johnson/Weld:

When asked why they should be voted for, Johnson noted that they tried to take the true ideals of the Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian parties for a solution that best fits the American people. Weld added in that they want to be a party that accepts all.

18. On Being Wrong:

CNN host Anderson Cooper noted that Johnson said, “I may be wrong, but this is what I’m thinking.” Cooper brought up that it was the first time he could EVER recall a politician admitting that he or she may be wrong. Johnson responded, “Well, if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember things.” He said that with him and Weld there was no pretending.

19. On Black Lives Matter:

Johnson, as a white male, responded to one of the black women that was shot in a peaceful protest. He said, “We’ve all had our heads in the sand, that this discrimination doesn’t exist.” He acknowledged that we need to get our heads out of the sand and do something about it.

20. On the Obesity Epidemic:

Johnson applauded Michelle Obama for her efforts in combating American obesity and it was noted that both him and Weld pursue healthy and active lifestyles. He made note that health is up to the individual but should also be encouraged and modeled by government officials.

Johnson and Weld are the first third party to make this big of a dent in the two-party run for President since Perot in 1992. It will be interesting to see how their campaign plays out, but for now, the clock is ticking to see if they will make the 15% in the polls and make it to the debate stage. For more on the candidates, visit their website.