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 |
|---|
| 0.45 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | European war debts and reparations | No cancellation of the war debts — make payment possible by restoring trade |
| 0.45 | 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' |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Veterans' bonus and benefits | No early payment of the veterans' bonus until the budget is balanced with a cash surplus |
| 0.42 | 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 |
| 0.42 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | European war debts and reparations | No cancellation of war debts; apply any annual payment to opening foreign markets for American farm products |
| 0.41 | 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 |
| 0.41 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Farm and home mortgage relief | Low interest rates, sounder home financing, better banking |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Level of federal spending | Cut the cost of the federal government by at least 25 percent |
| 0.40 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Balancing the federal budget | Balance the budget by cutting expenditures, not by raising taxes |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Tariff levels | Unconditional most-favored-nation treatment; no reciprocal bargains or preferences |
| 0.39 | 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 |
| 0.39 | 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) |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Railroad regulation and consolidation | Six-point railroad program — conditional federal support, receivership reform, ICC regulation of trucks and holding companies, consolidation |
| 0.38 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Federal responsibility for relief | A $5 billion federal appropriation for immediate relief of those in need |
| 0.38 | 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) |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Farm prices can be restored only by general recovery and markets — no production control, no subsidies; repeal Farm Board stabilization |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | An "economic declaration of rights" — the right to make a living and the right to safe savings |
| 0.37 | 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 |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Veterans' bonus and benefits | Oppose cash prepayment of the veterans' bonus, especially by fiat money |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National economic planning | Industry leaders to organize cooperatively for the common good; government regulates only as a last resort |
| 0.36 | 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 |
| 0.36 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Balancing the federal budget | Balance the budget within a year or two out of rising national income, without new taxes |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Reorganization of the executive branch | A long-range plan consolidating the federal government's scattered public-health and welfare agencies |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges | No implied government approval of foreign bond sales; officials will not try to move stock prices |