Two responses - if you were alive in 1804, the Electoral College change was a big deal.  Using your approach, states (such as the eleven to date) could easily shift it so that their state electors had to vote for the candidate with the most national votes - vs. individual state totals.  As you say, not much change.

The point made above about Trumpster and California is based upon a Trump bloviation - he alleges that if he had campaigned in California, he would have won the national vote total.  We will never know but his *claim* stretches reality - he lost California by millions of votes - he could have campaigned but doubt he would have won roughly 2 million votes which he would have needed to overcome Clinton's roughly 3 million national vote lead.