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 |
|---|
| 0.44 | 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 |
| 0.43 | 1936 | William E. Borah | Antitrust and concentration of economic power | Drive monopoly and price fixing out of the system or face governmental regimentation |
| 0.42 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Preserve 'ordered freedom' and equality of opportunity; reject a state-controlled or state-directed economy as 'tyranny' |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Public ownership of electric power | Federal regulation of interstate power; opposition to government operation of the power business |
| 0.40 | 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 | National economic planning | Industry leaders to organize cooperatively for the common good; government regulates only as a last resort |
| 0.39 | 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 |
| 0.38 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.37 | 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 |
| 0.37 | 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 |
| 0.36 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Old-age pensions and social insurance | Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.35 | 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 |
| 0.35 | 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 |
| 0.35 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Income and inheritance tax progressivity | Raise revenue by graduated income, inheritance and profits taxes, not taxes on necessities |
| 0.35 | 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 |
| 0.35 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Right to organize and bargain collectively | Guard the worker's right to organize and bargain collectively |
| 0.34 | 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 |
| 0.34 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Tariff levels | A "competitive" tariff set through a scientific Tariff Commission, with anti-log-rolling rules and a public counsel |
| 0.33 | 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' |
| 0.33 | 1936 | Alf Landon | European war debts and reparations | Use every effort to collect the war debts due from foreign countries |
| 0.33 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Unemployment insurance | Compulsory unemployment insurance funded by employers and by higher income and inheritance taxes |
| 0.33 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National Prohibition | Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by state conventions; legalize beer now; states control liquor and bar the saloon |
| 0.33 | 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 |
| 0.33 | 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 |