I guess my post wasn't clear - my point was you have to amend the constitution to get rid of the EC, AND you have to amend the constitution to take rights of states to determine their electors, so if you are going to go to all the work to amend the constitution, I would prefer to amend to have a popular vote than to tinker with how the electors are elected. (I may have changed my mind on that.)
As for small states population states being stupid to let go of their electoral advantage, what are some of the ways the interests of small pop state differ from those of large pop states? This is a sincere question. The original tension between states with small and large eligible voter populations was between slave states and northern relatively populous manufacturing states.  Easy to see the difference in interests there, but what are the differences that exist today by simple virtue of the difference in overall population?  (People often conflate small pop with rural - not the same thing.)