Bradbury himself said that he didn't write science fiction but science fantasy. I do think he used fiction better than most. You may even be able to equate the carnival in Something Wicked This Way Comes as the Progressive movement promising all sorts of things and pulling people into their trap.
A better way of describing Bradbury—again from my point of view—would be to say that he was a “writer” as opposed to a “storyteller.” That aligns with his being more popular with the educator/Saturday Evening Post/modern fiction critics—he was more accessible to the non-sci-fi reader.