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 |
|---|
| 0.49 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Federal responsibility for relief | A $5 billion federal appropriation for immediate relief of those in need |
| 0.46 | 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 |
| 0.45 | 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) |
| 0.45 | 1936 | Alf Landon | European war debts and reparations | Use every effort to collect the war debts due from foreign countries |
| 0.43 | 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 |
| 0.42 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Local government consolidation and the tax burden on land | A national review of federal-state-local taxation to relieve farms and homes of property taxes |
| 0.42 | 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) |
| 0.42 | 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 | Federal responsibility for relief | Relief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole |
| 0.40 | 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 |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National Prohibition | Repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by state conventions; legalize beer now; states control liquor and bar the saloon |
| 0.40 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.39 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power | Wages, hours and child labor by State law and interstate compact -- and a constitutional amendment giving the States power if the courts forbid |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Farm prices and agricultural surplus | Restore purchasing power to the farming half of the nation |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Reorganization of the executive branch | A long-range plan consolidating the federal government's scattered public-health and welfare agencies |
| 0.38 | 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 |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Tariff levels | Revise the tariff downward through reciprocal trade agreements |
| 0.37 | 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 |
| 0.37 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Balancing the federal budget | A balanced budget as 'the foundation of all public and private financial stability' |
| 0.37 | 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 |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | International economic and monetary conferences | Convene international monetary and economic conferences to stabilize currencies and restore trade |
| 0.36 | 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 |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment |
| 0.36 | 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 |
| 0.35 | 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 |