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 |
|---|
| 0.67 | 1932 | John Nance Garner | Public works as employment policy | The Garner-Rainey $1.2 billion public-works bill — and a pledge to reintroduce it |
| 0.65 | 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 |
| 0.62 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Regulation of banks and securities | The RFC and the 'shield of Government credit' saved 5,000 institutions and must continue — but no direct government lending to everyone |
| 0.62 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Federal responsibility for relief | A $5 billion federal appropriation for immediate relief of those in need |
| 0.59 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Level of federal spending | Cut federal spending $1.5 billion below fiscal 1932 and reorganize the executive branch |
| 0.57 | 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) |
| 0.57 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Balancing the federal budget | Balance the budget within a year or two out of rising national income, without new taxes |
| 0.57 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Short-term and marketing credit for agriculture | Restore short-term farm credit through the new agricultural credit corporations, RFC loans to processors and financing of export sales |
| 0.56 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Level of federal spending | Defense of the eight-billion-dollar deficit as an investment in America |
| 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 | 1932 | John Nance Garner | Regulation of banks and securities | RFC loans to individuals and corporations generally — 'the Government into personal banking' (the Rainey bill) |
| 0.54 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Federal responsibility for relief | Relief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole |
| 0.54 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Reforestation and land policy | Employ a million men reforesting marginal and abandoned land |
| 0.53 | 1936 | Alf Landon | European war debts and reparations | Use every effort to collect the war debts due from foreign countries |
| 0.52 | 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 | Herbert Hoover | Philippine independence | Gradual Philippine independence — economic independence first, with duty-free sugar cut from 600,000 tons downward every year |
| 0.51 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Balancing the federal budget | Balance the federal budget annually within revenues |
| 0.51 | 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 |
| 0.51 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.51 | 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 |
| 0.51 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Cash benefits on the domestically consumed portion of export crops to make the tariff effective, limited to the family-type farm; no scarcity program, no processing tax |
| 0.50 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Regulation of utility rates and holding companies | Eight-point federal utility program: publicity, Federal Power Commission control of holding companies, prudent-investment rate base |
| 0.50 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Farm and home mortgage relief | Government assistance to keep home-owners and farm-owners from foreclosure |
| 0.49 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Planned use of land and retirement of marginal farmland | A national policy of planned land use — economic soil survey and retirement of marginal farmland |
| 0.49 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Continue soil conservation and domestic allotment payments; end ruinous surpluses; commodity loans on seasonal surpluses |