There seems no particular reason to think that Benjamin Franklin would have objected to Presidential Electors being chosen in districts. His own Pennsylvania did it that way in 1796 without any preoblems. True, they abandoned it for 1800 in favour of choice by the Legislature, but this proved to be a disaster, as the two Houses of the Legislature failed to agree.
Several states used forms of the District system down to c1830, and others have used it occasionally – notably Michigan in 1892. It fell out of favour because states wished to increase their political clout by casting a block vote. These days, however, most states are safely “red” or “blue” and only a handful of “swing” ones need to be courted, so that consideration carries far less weight. In short, I don’t really see the problem.
