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 |
|---|
| 0.32 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Neutrality, arms embargoes and staying out of foreign wars | Promote peace by all honorable means; no League, no World Court, no plan that could involve the U.S. in a war it had no part in beginning |
| 0.32 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans | Maintain equal opportunity and rights for Negro citizens |
| 0.27 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Collective bargaining by representatives of the employees' own choice, 'without the interference of any one' |
| 0.26 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National Prohibition | Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by state conventions; legalize beer now; states control liquor and bar the saloon |
| 0.25 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Philippine independence | Gradual Philippine independence — economic independence first, with duty-free sugar cut from 600,000 tons downward every year |
| 0.25 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.25 | 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 |
| 0.23 | 1932 | Newton D. Baker | League of Nations and international organizations | Do not make the League of Nations a party issue; no entry until a majority of Americans approve |
| 0.23 | 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) |
| 0.23 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National economic planning | National economic planning on the model of the 1917 war mobilization |
| 0.23 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Restore confidence by 'unshackling initiative': steady, open, non-partisan administration that stops 'fumbling with recovery' |
| 0.22 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Income and inheritance tax progressivity | Taxes levied according to ability to pay; lower taxes for 99 percent, higher at the top |
| 0.22 | 1936 | Norman Thomas | Public ownership of major industries | The New Deal 'has not worked'; build the cooperative commonwealth |
| 0.21 | 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 |
| 0.21 | 1936 | Norman Thomas | Communism, radicalism and "alien isms" as a political issue | Keep the Socialist vote independent; chide the La Follettes for handing Roosevelt 'everything on a silver platter' |
| 0.21 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges | No federal 'blue sky' law — securities regulation belongs to the states, and the President should not police booms |
| 0.19 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Independence of the Supreme Court | Preserve the independence of the Supreme Court from party control |
| 0.19 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Civil service and patronage | Keep the merit system 'unassailable' |
| 0.19 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Politics and patronage in relief administration | Relief will continue, but purged of politics, administered locally on merit, with economies taken from 'the political exploiters' |
| 0.18 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Independence of the Supreme Court | An independent Supreme Court secure from executive or legislative invasion; maintain the balance between States and nation |
| 0.18 | 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' |
| 0.18 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Control of credit expansion | Prevent another runaway credit expansion through government information, not government control of credit |
| 0.18 | 1932 | Alfred E. Smith | National Prohibition | Outright repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment — the issue Roosevelt was downplaying |
| 0.18 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Unemployment insurance | Unemployment insurance under state laws |
| 0.17 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Crop insurance and storage reserves | Give crop insurance 'the fullest attention' |