The dissonance between what President Joe Biden’s administration says about the state of the economy and what Gerig is experiencing is a major reason that he attended Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rally at the Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta on Jan. 14. Kennedy is running for president as an independent in the upcoming election.

“We’re always presented with two buttons to push our entire life. Being here feels like maybe there’s a third button. Maybe it does the same thing as those other two buttons, but let’s see what it does,” said Gerig, who voted blue in the two previous presidential elections.

That feeling of pessimism about a perceived Democratic-Republican duopoly was shared by many young people attending Kennedy’s stump speech at the Tabernacle on Sunday. The rally was part of a petition drive to secure Kennedy a spot on Georgia’s ballot in November.

It’s not just disaffected liberals who are curious about Kennedy’s third-party campaign. Former Trump voters are also taking notice. That describes Jonathan Strader, a 31-year-old veteran who lives in Marietta. Strader, who describes himself as a libertarian, grew up attending Tea Party rallies in South Carolina with his stepfather.

Strader said his decade of service in the Air Force showed him how the military-industrial complex was negatively intertwined with party politics. “It’s a vicious cycle of money fueling wars, and I don’t think this two-party system is giving us appropriate options,” he said. “And honestly, I like [Kennedy’s] message of unity.”