If that is indeed the case, then it was not a vote for what Republicans are doing now. It still points to a systemic problem: the system gave certain individuals the power to do things that they don't actually have a mandate for.

I'd say one of the major problems is that the voting system is built to de facto ensure a two-party system because it's a system in which individuals are voted for, with each race being a winner-takes-all for a single individual; as opposed to a system of representative voting. And a two-party system simply isn't able to represent the complexities of the world.

(This is of course in addition to other problems of the system which are also real.)