Wide tires + rain + daily driver = what traction

So yesterday and this morning it's raining cats and dogs and my Duster is having huge traction issues. Now this is nothing new but it got me thinking about traction.
Currently it's got /6 pushing 205/60/15 radial T/A's on 15x7 wheels, 7 1/4 rear ( open, obviously )
I've got my eye on a set of the bullitt wheels ( 17x8 ), but this also brings up another issue....If I change to a tire that has a bigger contact patch it would effectively reduce the weight per square inch of tire touching the road, which would be WORSE for traction in the rain...correct??
( I had kind of the same issue on my ranger when I put 31's on it...got really crazy to drive in the rain )


Who is running fairly wide tires on a daily driver? and what kind of traction do you get on wet roads?
I've got to imagine that if my little slant is having trouble putting the power to the road that there's got to be others out there with daily drivers that are just SCARY to drive in the rain.