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 |
|---|
| 0.65 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Collective bargaining by representatives of the employees' own choice, 'without the interference of any one' |
| 0.65 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Labor's right to organize in any union it prefers, free from coercion by employer, fellow employee or anyone else; organizers' lawful activity protected |
| 0.58 | 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 |
| 0.57 | 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 |
| 0.56 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public employment offices | A federally coordinated system of state employment offices (the vetoed Wagner bill) |
| 0.53 | 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 |
| 0.53 | 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) |
| 0.51 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Antitrust and concentration of economic power | Strengthen and impartially enforce the antitrust laws |
| 0.51 | 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 |
| 0.49 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National economic planning | Industry leaders to organize cooperatively for the common good; government regulates only as a last resort |
| 0.49 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.47 | 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 |
| 0.47 | 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 |
| 0.47 | 1936 | Frank Knox | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Fair, honest, economical and efficient government; preserve free enterprise against 'amateur economic planners' |
| 0.47 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Federal responsibility for relief | Relief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole |
| 0.47 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Unemployment insurance | Leave unemployment insurance to State experiment; no federal tax to compel it |
| 0.46 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Working hours and labor standards | Spread employment by substantially reducing hours of labor, starting in government service |
| 0.46 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Antitrust and concentration of economic power | Use the full power of the federal government to break up private monopolies and enforce the antitrust laws 'without fear or favor' |
| 0.46 | 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 |
| 0.45 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans | Economic, political and legal equality for the Negro; a federal anti-lynching law; enforce the First Amendment |
| 0.45 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Executive reciprocal trade agreements (1934 Act) | Continue the reciprocal trade agreements to lower barriers against American exports |
| 0.45 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Raise staple farm prices by a tariff-equivalent benefit plus voluntary production control, at no cost to the Treasury |
| 0.44 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Civil service and patronage | Immediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions |
| 0.44 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Restriction of immigration | Continue immigration restriction to protect labor, but end abuses against individual families in enforcement |
| 0.44 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Tariff levels | Maintain — and if necessary widen — the protective tariff; reject the Democratic 'competitive tariff for revenue' |