History is no longer properly taught. That is why whiny millennials don't understand the electoral college. They have been taught that a big daddy federal government is all that there is, but that is not how the country was founded.
Look no further than our country's name, United States of America. Or the fact that a war was fought over state's rights. Of course most people think the civil war was about slavery, but it was not. It was about state's rights.
The Constitution specifically spells out the powers of the federal government. Anything not mentioned reverts to the states. This is the brilliance of the founding. The notion that smaller government is more responsive and representative of it's people that one large federal government.
If there was no Electoral College, then no Presidential candidate would set foot in 80% of the country. The Dems would go to Cali, NY, Philly, and Chicago and that's it.
Look at how Philly usually dominates the political fate of PA even though most of the rest of the state is conservative. Sometimes, the rest of the state does have enough votes to overcome Philly as we saw this year. This can happen on the state level, but if it was a national level, there is no way that rural America would have any say at all.
People in Iowa would be governed by laws made based on what people in LA and NY think.