Somewhat, yes.
It has ever been so. Frankly, the election race between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, or between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams were far, far worse than Trump versus Cruz.
If the people were moral, and the journalists told the truth, then dirty tricks would be more exposed, and the trickster campaigns would be punished by the voters.
Kind of like natural selection weeding out the deformed freaks or the dumb.
In other words, I might not like the mud slinging and tricks, but is its VERY American, historically.
I do think it's up to campaign leaders to set a high standard, especially now that it has become a campaign issue this year.