I think that one reason she is so hated isn’t simply because she is conservative but because she is a conservative woman. The mindset of liberals is that only white middle/upper class men can be conservative because they are the evil that, according to our pResident, stole from everyone else to build this country. I don’t think they can wrap their minds around the reality a woman, who by all their definitions, is what white men have enslaved and oppressed through out time can be conservative. It just flies in their face. No woman can possibly believe what conservatives believe.
I see it all the time. My wife for one, who is conservative (not as much as I), is often treated poorly by the members of her family and castigated (all libs) because they just cannot believe she feels that way about anything. To her credit, like Sarah, she stands her ground and that infuriates them more. I just tell them to FO, but she still feels the need to connect to them and discuss issues and try and make them see. It is a loosing effort for the most part when your targeted audience is reliant on the government and blames everyone else for their lot in life instead of owning their choices. As long as they have their cell phones, car, tv, and entertainment they don’t care about anything else much less who is paying the bills (us through taxes).