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 |
|---|
| 0.57 | 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' |
| 0.52 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Civil service and patronage | Immediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions |
| 0.47 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Reorganization of the executive branch | Cooperate with Congress to reorganize agencies, abolish unnecessary ones and eliminate duplication |
| 0.47 | 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' |
| 0.47 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Federal youth work and education programs (CCC, NYA) | Continue the Civilian Conservation Corps, add education fitting enrollees for private jobs, and take the politicians out of its administration |
| 0.47 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.45 | 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 |
| 0.44 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Remove government from private enterprise except public works and natural resources |
| 0.44 | 1936 | Frank Knox | Overall role and scale of the federal government | Fair, honest, economical and efficient government; preserve free enterprise against 'amateur economic planners' |
| 0.43 | 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 |
| 0.43 | 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 |
| 0.43 | 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' |
| 0.43 | 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' |
| 0.43 | 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 |
| 0.42 | 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 |
| 0.42 | 1936 | Alf Landon | Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans | Equal opportunity for colored citizens: protect their economic status and personal safety; further their employment |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Norman Thomas | Public ownership of major industries | Transfer the principal industries — banking, natural resources, utilities — to social ownership by compensation, not confiscation |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Maintenance of wage levels in depression | Uphold wages and spread work by voluntary agreement of employers and labor; shorter hours in government service |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Distribution of national income and purchasing power | A more equitable distribution of national income — higher reward to labor, lower to speculative capital |
| 0.38 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Benefits for disabled and service-connected veterans | Continue just treatment of war veterans and dependents |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Reorganization of the executive branch | Reorganize the Department of Agriculture as the machinery for national agricultural planning |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public works as employment policy | Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment |
| 0.38 | 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 |
| 0.38 | 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 | Herbert Hoover | International economic and monetary conferences | A world economic conference on monetary stabilization and trade, with an agricultural representative |