Maybe....Sanford would have been seen as more serious, more credible. I like Sarah Palin, but the media created a caricature of her that still lingers with her image today.
Sanford would have probably given McCain NC, OH, NV and NM because of his economically conservative views.
Remember, social conservatism essentially died in 2006 when the MSM tied the Evangelicals with Ted Haggard and the Iraq War. There is a reason why Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum will never be president, social conservatism is waning. Economic conservatism is the way to go.
However, Sanford is violently anti-Trump.
I think you are missing the point. People like me didn’t vote for Sarah Palin because she was a GOPe approved social conservative. I voted for her because she wasn’t a slimy GOPe insider and the GOPe hacks hated her. DJT won for the same reason. President Trump isn’t a GOPe approved “conservative”, he is an outsider. It is telling that he has governed in a much more conservative manner than any GOPe approved “conservative” of any type would have.
If Juan McCain picked Sanford as his VP??? Wow, that is some comment!!!!