Yes, you are off here. Firstly because the US never has been and never will be much of a democracy, and secondly because shaming the constituency into voting has never and will never result in more votes.

Fewer people voting is not the cause of less democracy, it is a symptom of it. Some people have been losing faith in it, and why wouldn’t they, when grinding neoliberalism has slowly worsened their lives over the last ~45 years?