Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, saying he represents the views of most Americans on the issues, told an enthusiastic rally Monday evening not to listen to opponents who say supporting him is pointless.

“When somebody says to you that you are wasting your vote, how is there not a more wasted vote than voting for somebody you don’t believe in?” Johnson said as cheers erupted.

In a wide-ranging speech to an estimated 1,200 supporters at the University of Colorado South Denver campus near Parker, Johnson touched on basic themes of his campaign, from free market economics to balancing the budget, marriage equality, curbing health care costs through competition and support of the Second Amendment — though with discussion of measures to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists and the mentally ill.

He also voiced his belief that the U.S. should have an invincible national defense, “but let’s stop being the world’s policeman.” That led to his delivery of a lengthy and detailed description the U.S. role in the many-layered Syrian conflict — with pointed reference to the focal city of Aleppo — and its deadly crossfire of allegiances.

It was clearly a response to the fact that Johnson recently found the spotlight for a couple of gaffes in media interviews — once, when he failed to recognize Aleppo as the Syrian city and then again when he struggled to name a favorite foreign leader.

Paraphrasing a Mahatma Gandhi quote holding that opponents first ignore you, then laugh at you and then fight you, Johnson had told reporters before the rally, “I want you to know they’re in the attack phase, and I am an idiot now (according to opponents).”

On the volatile issue of immigration, Johnson called on the U.S. to embrace it, in part by making work visas easier to get. He said the reason there are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country is because it’s so difficult to obtain visas for existing jobs.

“If we were in that situation, we’d be doing the same thing, crossing that border to take care of our families,” he said.

Johnson also addressed racial issues.

“Discrimination is taking place when a person of color is pulled over,” he said. “I don’t get taken out of the car by the collar. I’m not subject to that, but blacks are, and that’s why it matters. I think we’re going to come to grips with this as a country and remedy it in really constructive ways.”

He reiterated his opposition to the death penalty — a change of heart from his position years ago — and allowed that, “based on what I know now,” he would pardon Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who leaked classified information.

He even gave a shout-out to Colorado — “You rock!” — for legalizing marijuana. An upcoming vote in California will be the “tipping point” nationally, he said, “but you led the way.”

His talk of legalizing pot segued into his opposition to the drug war. And he pleased the crowd with some zingers aimed at Republican opponent Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“I agree with Donald Trump on the No. 1 issue he has in his campaign,” Johnson said, setting up his biggest applause line. “And I agree with Hillary Clinton on the No. 1 issue in her campaign. Don’t vote for Trump. Don’t vote for Clinton.”

Calling the two-party political arrangement a “duopoly that has run its course,” told reporters before his Monday evening rally that the end-game of his candidacy is to ruin a rigged system.

“People don’t realize how rigged it is,” Johnson said. “Seventy percent don’t even know I’m in the race.” He added that the key to reaching voters here and elsewhere is to make sure they understand where he stands on the issues.

He hammered on basic traits he said 60 percent of Americans want in a candidate: fiscally conservative, socially inclusive, skeptical of foreign military intervention and supportive of free markets. Johnson said his first campaign foray into Colorado targets all voters, not just those disaffected Republicans or Democrats.

“The target is America,” he said.

Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, has polled at about 7 percent in Colorado, according to a Monmouth University poll, a slight uptick from the 5 percent he held in mid-July. The poll showed that Clinton widened her lead over Trump to 11 points, 49 percent to 38 percent.

Trump also campaigned in Colorado on Monday, with stops in Pueblo and Loveland.

Johnson said the polls would probably look a lot different if voters were asked to choose between him and each individual candidate.

“If it were conducted that way,” he said, “I’d be president of the United States.”

Although this marked Johnson’s first major campaign stop in the state, he visits the Denver area often, his campaign said. He has a son and daughter-in-law, plus a granddaughter, who live in Denver.

“Colorado is clearly an important state for us, as a swing state where we expect to be strong,” said Joe Hunter, Johnson’s communications director, via e-mail. “Gov. Johnson is very popular with millennials and independents, and Colorado has many of both. Likewise, as a former New Mexico governor, he is appealing to Latinos, and of course, fellow westerners.”

Johnson campaigned in Arizona over the weekend and will head to New York after his Colorado visit.

Kenyon Fryman, a 28-year-old mobile DJ who recently relocated to Colorado from Kansas, said while waiting for the event to begin that he’s been on board with Johnson from the beginning, even though he briefly considered some Republican primary contenders.

As a Navy reservist, he likes Johnson’s non-interventionist stance and his ideas about free-market competition and deregulating small business. He sees Libertarians making continued strides as a third party that have made it a viable option right now, not just on the “long game.”

“A vote for Gary Johnson is a vote for Gary Johnson,” he said. “To move the needle is about getting the message out.”