Even if Palin has high negatives that doesn’t mean she can’t be elected, once she has center stage in a general election. It’s like all the people who thought Reagan wasn’t electable until he proved himself in the debates with Carter.
And that's after Ronald Reagan had spent 3 decades in public life, was running for president for the 3rd time and was up against the disaster called Jimmy Carter.
Despite all that, Americans STILL were not sure about him until that debate because of the constant anti-Reagan media drumbeat. The polls were a dead heat and Carter was ticking up. The deal was closed in one night.
Post-election polls showed 2/3 of Americans thought Palin had gotten a raw deal from the media. If she is the nominee, she'll get a serious second look. It'll be up to her.