@process: Yeah, that's the case normally. Policy is a small side dish. The candidates are the spectacle, and that, I believe, is in large part because the bulk of 'Muricans don't give a shit about details. They just don't want whichever Them they hate to win.
All that said, there's also that a seeming bulk of 'Muricans believe the President is who makes everything happen, which is not entirely true. They don't understand the Executive Branch executes policy created by Congress... and that...
@process: ...half of Congress, i.e., the Senate, used to be comprised not of popularly elected officials but of officials appointed by state legislatures to represent state governments in Congress. The House of Representatives represented the people directly. (Hence the two-year, not six-year terms.)
My belief is that most 'Muricans don't care, really, about their government or how it works or is supposed to work. They're too far removed from it at this point.