The votes of large cities matter no more than an equal number of voters in rural counties in a popular vote (and you'll hear at least as much difference between

The votes of large cities matter no more than an equal number of voters in rural counties in a popular vote (and you'll hear at least as much difference between the priorities of different groups of voters in the city). With the EC, votes in most states matter even less (not only are there not many voters to appeal to, picking up extra votes there isn't going to change the EC outcome). Just because California now gets ignored doesnt mean candidates don't also care even less about Alaska or Hawaii. It's not even inherently unfair to populous areas, it's just extraordinarily skewed towards a few contestable states, mainly the large ones. A single suburb of Philadelphia and Miami matters more for a real world Presidential election campaign than most states.