That was the problem. Republicans trashed her relentlessy, sometimes even worse than the democrats.
People who speak ill of Sarah Palin lose all of my respect. When Trump received her endorsement Cruz handled it with class, but many of his followers... not so much. I don’t know if that had any effect on the poll numbers. We would still vote for Cruz if he were the nominee but I do not have any desire to be affiliated with any of those currently trashing Sarah Palin. I think that they are disgusting. The left conspired to destroy her reputation, her career, and her life. Many of McCain’s people were complicit.