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 |
|---|
| 0.81 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Unemployment insurance | Leave unemployment insurance to State experiment; no federal tax to compel it |
| 0.69 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Old-age pensions and social insurance | Old-age insurance under state laws |
| 0.63 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Unemployment insurance | Compulsory unemployment insurance funded by employers and by higher income and inheritance taxes |
| 0.62 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go) | Defense of the payroll-tax financing: the employer pays an equal share and the reserves are safe |
| 0.62 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Sickness and health insurance | Sickness insurance as a "minimum requirement" alongside old-age and unemployment insurance |
| 0.57 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public employment offices | A federally coordinated system of state employment offices (the vetoed Wagner bill) |
| 0.56 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Public employment offices | Commend and continue the enlarged United States Employment Service |
| 0.56 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Old-age pensions and social insurance | Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all |
| 0.55 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power | Wages, hours and child labor by State law and interstate compact -- and a constitutional amendment giving the States power if the courts forbid |
| 0.55 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment |
| 0.54 | 1936 | William Lemke | Minimum wages | A 'living annual wage' -- $1,800 for a family of five -- by federal law and a constitutional amendment if necessary |
| 0.54 | 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 |
| 0.54 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.53 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Maintenance of wage levels in depression | Uphold wages and spread work by voluntary agreement of employers and labor; shorter hours in government service |
| 0.52 | 1932 | Albert C. Ritchie | National Prohibition | Repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment as a matter of states' rights |
| 0.51 | 1936 | Alf Landon | How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go) | Repeal the compulsory old-age insurance plan; pay every needy citizen over 65 a pension from a direct, widely distributed tax |
| 0.51 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Local government consolidation and the tax burden on land | A national review of federal-state-local taxation to relieve farms and homes of property taxes |
| 0.51 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Federal responsibility for relief | Relief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole |
| 0.51 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Independence of the Supreme Court | A Workers' Rights Amendment; curb the Supreme Court's power over Congress; proportional representation; direct election of the President |
| 0.50 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Government as a check on concentrated economic power — "individualism" redefined as equality of opportunity |
| 0.49 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans | Equal opportunity for colored citizens: protect their economic status and personal safety; further their employment |
| 0.49 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National Prohibition | Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by state conventions; legalize beer now; states control liquor and bar the saloon |
| 0.49 | 1936 | Frank Knox | Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power | New federal activities only when legalized by constitutional amendment -- 'the horse and buggy method' |
| 0.48 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Public works as employment policy | A $5 billion federal public-works program — roads, reforestation, slum clearance, workers' housing — and idle factories and land turned over to the unemployed |
| 0.48 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Flood control and river-basin development | Federal construction of head-water storage basins to prevent floods, with the consent of the States concerned |