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 |
|---|
| 0.36 | 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' |
| 0.32 | 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 |
| 0.32 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.31 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Unemployment insurance | Unemployment insurance under state laws |
| 0.30 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Concentrated economic power vs. the average citizen (rhetorical framing) | Take power from the 'economic royalists': the mandate of 1932 is to end economic tyranny |
| 0.29 | 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) |
| 0.28 | 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 |
| 0.28 | 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 |
| 0.27 | 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 |
| 0.27 | 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 |
| 0.27 | 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 |
| 0.26 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Public ownership of electric power | Federal regulation of interstate power; opposition to government operation of the power business |
| 0.25 | 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' |
| 0.25 | 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 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning |
| 0.25 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Philippine independence | Gradual Philippine independence — economic independence first, with duty-free sugar cut from 600,000 tons downward every year |
| 0.24 | 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' |
| 0.24 | 1936 | Frank Knox | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Fair, honest, economical and efficient government; preserve free enterprise against 'amateur economic planners' |
| 0.24 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Civil service and patronage | Keep the merit system 'unassailable' |
| 0.23 | 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 |
| 0.23 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | International economic and monetary conferences | Convene international monetary and economic conferences to stabilize currencies and restore trade |
| 0.23 | 1936 | William E. Borah | Antitrust and concentration of economic power | Drive monopoly and price fixing out of the system or face governmental regimentation |
| 0.22 | 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 |
| 0.22 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Policy toward Latin America and the Western Hemisphere | The Good Neighbor: no armed intervention, no territorial expansion, reduction of armaments |
| 0.22 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | "A new deal for the American people" — work and security through liberal, planned government action |