Work in progress — cycles are added one at a time. Every quote is machine-verified against an archived source; follow the links to read it.
| Score | Cycle | Candidate | Issue | Position |
|---|
| 0.48 | 1936 | Norman Thomas | Public ownership of major industries | The New Deal 'has not worked'; build the cooperative commonwealth |
| 0.45 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Working hours and labor standards | Revive the NRA's principles 'by one device or another' (imputed; the President would not say) |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | National Prohibition | Resubmit the Eighteenth Amendment so each state may decide, with constitutional guarantees against the saloon and against interference with dry states; enforce the law meanwhile |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Public ownership of major industries | Transfer the principal industries — banking, natural resources, utilities — to social ownership by compensation, not confiscation |
| 0.42 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Public works as employment policy | Federal construction at three times normal and $1.5 billion of RFC loans for self-liquidating works — but no pork-barrel or non-productive projects |
| 0.41 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Public ownership of electric power | Federal regulation of interstate power; opposition to government operation of the power business |
| 0.41 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Preserve 'ordered freedom' and equality of opportunity; reject a state-controlled or state-directed economy as 'tyranny' |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Tariff levels | Revise the tariff downward through reciprocal trade agreements |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National economic planning | Industry leaders to organize cooperatively for the common good; government regulates only as a last resort |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Farm prices can be restored only by general recovery and markets — no production control, no subsidies; repeal Farm Board stabilization |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Restoring the commodity price level (reflation) | Restore commodity prices toward their former dollar value rather than write down all debts |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Balancing the federal budget | Balance the federal budget annually within revenues |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Reforestation and land policy | Employ a million men reforesting marginal and abandoned land |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Albert C. Ritchie | Federal responsibility for relief | States' rights and business-led recovery — no federal intervention in relief |
| 0.38 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Communism, radicalism and "alien isms" as a political issue | Repudiate Communist support; the New Deal is the answer to Communism, not its ally |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | 'Employment for all surplus labor at all times' through self-liquidating public works (the Shearon letter, as Hoover read it) |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | An "economic declaration of rights" — the right to make a living and the right to safe savings |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Income and inheritance tax progressivity | Raise revenue by graduated income, inheritance and profits taxes, not taxes on necessities |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Collective bargaining by representatives of the employees' own choice, 'without the interference of any one' |
| 0.37 | 1936 | Alf Landon | National economic planning | End federal regimentation: no revival of NRA or AAA controls, no more emergency powers over production, wages and hours |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | International economic and monetary conferences | Convene international monetary and economic conferences to stabilize currencies and restore trade |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Child welfare and schooling | Maintain the Children's Bureau; keep children in school to sixteen; expand vocational education |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning |