Probably, yes. The idea is that people should have adequate representation. If 45% of your area if X, and 55% is Y, and it’s a direct election, then you end up with all elected officials being Y, and X has no representation at all. The ideal districts would result in 45% of all elected representatives being X.
The electoral college is based on population, but indirectly. The way you could get around it is if states awarded electoral votes proportionately to the votes a candidate received, rather than winner-takes-all. But states have to choose to do that themselves; the fed. gov’t can’t mandate it. Some states are already doing that.