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 |
|---|
| 0.52 | 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 |
| 0.48 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Public ownership of electric power | Federal regulation of interstate power; opposition to government operation of the power business |
| 0.47 | 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 |
| 0.46 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Direct relief for the unemployed | Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole |
| 0.46 | 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 |
| 0.43 | 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 |
| 0.43 | 1932 | Albert C. Ritchie | Federal responsibility for relief | States' rights and business-led recovery — no federal intervention in relief |
| 0.43 | 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 |
| 0.42 | 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) |
| 0.42 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public employment offices | A federally coordinated system of state employment offices (the vetoed Wagner bill) |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Federal responsibility for relief | Federal leadership in distress relief — federal credit to states whose resources are exhausted |
| 0.39 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Concentrated economic power vs. the average citizen (rhetorical framing) | 'I welcome their hatred': a second term in which organized money meets its master |
| 0.39 | 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 |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Railroad regulation and consolidation | Six-point railroad program — conditional federal support, receivership reform, ICC regulation of trucks and holding companies, consolidation |
| 0.39 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Control of credit expansion | Prevent another runaway credit expansion through government information, not government control of credit |
| 0.38 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Old-age pensions and social insurance | Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Herbert Hoover | Federal responsibility for relief | Relief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole |
| 0.38 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges | Federal regulation of securities and commodity exchanges, interstate holding companies and interstate utility rates |
| 0.38 | 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 |
| 0.38 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Civil service and patronage | Immediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions |
| 0.36 | 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 |
| 0.36 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Level of federal spending | Reduce the expenses of government as relief needs decline |
| 0.36 | 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power | Meet constitutional obstacles by 'clarifying amendment' -- and say nothing about the Supreme Court |
| 0.36 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | National economic planning | Industry leaders to organize cooperatively for the common good; government regulates only as a last resort |
| 0.35 | 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Public ownership of electric power | Public development of hydro-electric power on the St. Lawrence model, with national control of interstate transmission |