The campaign could be framed as letting the people, rather than some obscure institution, decide. The real American deep state, after all, which thwarts the ability of Americans to govern themselves by the principle of majority rule, is the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate.
Americans are also more conscious of their federal elected officials than their state-level officials.
Compare the number of Americans who can name the vice president with the number who can name their lieutenant governor. But under our current system, the people’s vote directly determines who their lieutenant governor will be, but not who their vice president will be.