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 |
|---|
| 0.63 | 1932 | Albert C. Ritchie | Federal responsibility for relief | States' rights and business-led recovery — no federal intervention in relief |
| 0.61 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Federal responsibility for relief | Relief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole |
| 0.60 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.59 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.57 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Local government consolidation and the tax burden on land | Presidential leadership to consolidate local governments and lift the tax burden on land |
| 0.57 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Civil service and patronage | Restore, improve and extend the merit system 'virtually destroyed by New Deal spoilsmen' |
| 0.55 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment |
| 0.54 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Benefits for disabled and service-connected veterans | Full relief for service-disabled veterans and dependents; review existing veterans' laws to remove inequalities and effect economies |
| 0.54 | 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 |
| 0.54 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Regulation of utility rates and holding companies | Eight-point federal utility program: publicity, Federal Power Commission control of holding companies, prudent-investment rate base |
| 0.54 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Reorganization of the executive branch | Cooperate with Congress to reorganize agencies, abolish unnecessary ones and eliminate duplication |
| 0.54 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Civil service and patronage | Immediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions |
| 0.52 | 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 |
| 0.52 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Federal responsibility for relief | A $5 billion federal appropriation for immediate relief of those in need |
| 0.50 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Remove government from private enterprise except public works and natural resources |
| 0.49 | 1936 | Frank Knox | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Fair, honest, economical and efficient government; preserve free enterprise against 'amateur economic planners' |
| 0.49 | 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' |
| 0.49 | 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 |
| 0.48 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Unemployment insurance | Leave unemployment insurance to State experiment; no federal tax to compel it |
| 0.48 | 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 |
| 0.48 | 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' |
| 0.48 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Drought and disaster relief for farmers | Pay every outstanding AAA check and continue drought relief checks and seed loans |
| 0.48 | 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' |
| 0.48 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Level of federal spending | Cut federal spending $1.5 billion below fiscal 1932 and reorganize the executive branch |
| 0.47 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Child welfare and schooling | Maintain the Children's Bureau; keep children in school to sixteen; expand vocational education |