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 |
|---|
| 0.60 | 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 |
| 0.58 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Balancing the federal budget | Balance the budget by cutting expenditures, not by raising taxes |
| 0.57 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Working hours and labor standards | Shorter hours, higher wages, end child labor and sweatshops |
| 0.56 | 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) |
| 0.54 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Federal responsibility for relief | A $5 billion federal appropriation for immediate relief of those in need |
| 0.52 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Gold standard and currency basis | Sound currency 'at all hazards'; no further devaluation; repeal the laws delegating the money power to the Executive |
| 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 |
| 0.49 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Guard the worker's right to organize and bargain collectively |
| 0.48 | 1932 | Alfred E. Smith | European war debts and reparations | A twenty-year moratorium on the war debts, writing them off in proportion to each nation's purchases of American goods |
| 0.48 | 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 |
| 0.47 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Restriction of immigration | Continue immigration restriction to protect labor, but end abuses against individual families in enforcement |
| 0.47 | 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 |
| 0.47 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Benefits for disabled and service-connected veterans | Full justice and generosity for veterans disabled by actual wartime service — silence on the bonus |
| 0.46 | 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 |
| 0.46 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public ownership of electric power | Public development of hydro-electric power on the St. Lawrence model, with national control of interstate transmission |
| 0.45 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Sickness and health insurance | Sickness insurance as a "minimum requirement" alongside old-age and unemployment insurance |
| 0.45 | 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 |
| 0.45 | 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 |
| 0.45 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Unemployment insurance | Compulsory unemployment insurance funded by employers and by higher income and inheritance taxes |
| 0.45 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Collective bargaining by representatives of the employees' own choice, 'without the interference of any one' |
| 0.44 | 1936 | Frank Knox | How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go) | The Social Security Act is 'unworkable and unsound' -- 'lip service to security'; a Republican administration would offer its own legislation |
| 0.43 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Gold standard and currency basis | A permanently sound currency stabilized against wide fluctuations |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Veterans' bonus and benefits | No early payment of the veterans' bonus until the budget is balanced with a cash surplus |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Working hours and labor standards | The six-hour day and five-day week without reduction in wages |
| 0.43 | 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 |