Not quite. Since the early 1900s, U.S. voter turnout has fluctuated between about 50 and 65 percent, and in that time both Democrat and Republican presidents have won with low voter turnout. Bill Clinton was elected to office in 1996 with 49 percent voter turnout — the lowest in more than 70 years.
And while voter turnout for midterms has historically been lower than that of presidential elections, they’ve been low for both Democrat and Republican wins in Congress.
The 2008 financial crash looms over this race for the White House, but the Great Recession’s causes have received little play. That certainly goes for 1999’s repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, legislation meant to keep commercial and investment banking separate. Many political progressives (and some conservatives, too) have pointed to this repeal, led by Bill Clinton and encouraged by Wall Street, as a major factor in the 2008 crash, though its direct impact is up for debate.
Hillary Clinton’s coziness with Wall Street and her refusal to pledge to reinstate Glass-Steagall if elected (as seen above), as Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have promised, has frustrated some factions in her party. She also hasn’t gone as far as other Democratic candidates in talk of breaking up big banks.