But she was very popular for the first few weeks. She could appeal to what became the MAGA party of her party. She was a woman and a mother, which could attract some conservative Hillary supporters.
If she was somewhat competent, the election would have been a lot closer.
Closer, but also, everyone was sick of the Republican bullshit as Bush was on his way out and the economy was collapsing. McCain had a really hard sell.
Like HobbitFoot said, she was actually popular at first. I think people liked that folksy charm that she brought ("you betcha!") She has some charisma. Not saying it worked on everybody; I was not a fan, to say the least. But I can see it. And people here always like the idea of their leaders being someone you can have a beer with. Not saying someone couldn't have had a beer with John McCain, but I think with Palin, it was easier to envision.
Oh, she has charisma and confidence, like trump. Its just misguided. People saw through it and SNL skits destroyed her as she appeared stupid and everything she said after that reinforced the stupidity not the folksy.