There doesn't have to be a logical reason that you'd approve of for why voters view Palin extremely unfavorably.
I think Palin got very unfairly beat up in 2008. The media ripped her to shreds, exposed every weakness and otherwise sought to undermine her in every way imaginable.
Still, Palin had a way to recover from that. She could have kept her job as Governor, stayed out of the limelight, brushed up on all manner of issues she is not used to dealing with, given an occasional speech at non partisan events, etc. She needed to just go away for awhile, stay out of the spotlight, let time pass and come back stronger. Instead she chose to quit her gig as Governor, do silly RealityTV, hawk books, do hit and run appearances designed to grab attention away from actual candidates, and otherwise turned herself into what people view as a celebrity instead of a serious potential candidate. She's overexposed and people have Palin fatigue That is how she wrecked any chance she might have had to run a serious campaign in 2012. This is why I am left to assume she never had any intention to run in the first place.
One thing you didn’t mention: When Palin went back up to Alaska after the election, to continue her job as governor, she DID keep a low profile. But the media kept tabloidizing her family, and headlining constant stories about her “unethicalness” (via those frivolous ethics lawsuits). She was being beaten into the ground by the constant media attacks at that time, too. And, she WAS definately keeping a low-profile then. Even Bristol!
After she left her office, it was THEN she tried to at least take personal charge of her media presentation. Whether or not things like the reality show and the series of speeches were the correct route to go is perfectly debateable, of course. But, I just wanted to point out, during her post-election time as governor, she definately did not seek out the limelight, and the media was relentless towards her, and her approval ratings were being crunched downward very rapidly. Had she stayed in office, all that would have continued.
You're conveniently forgetting that she did, but that Obama sent his goons up to Alaska to coordinate with the local Rats to attack and destroy her. Everything you mentioned happened after the hit squad did it's dirty work, and she needed to make money fast to cover her legal bills and to fight back, which she did. In fact, in late 2009 and early 2010, she was the ONLY prominent National Republican who was fighting back and effectively, leading to even more attacks and 'overexposure' (as you put it).
Her only other choice was to let Team Obama win, and I'm thankful that she didn't.
There is nobody that is going to rid America of the DC Prostitution ring, except SP, and that is why the slimy bastards on the GOP side must destroy her. The worst of the lot Perry and Romney. As bad as Romney is as least he can be trusted sometime. Some people have courage and then there are people like you that don't recognize it.
Not true. She would have been the first sitting American governor to be forced to declare bankruptcy, due to the personal expenses incurred by defending herself from the malicious "ethics" complaints.
Why is this so difficult to understand?
Now, it's a more nuanced (and more serious, IMHO) complaint against her that the ethics laws that eventually forced her from office--despite the facts that she did nothing unethically while in office--the problem was that the ethics complaints allowed by law were essentially unlimited and unregulated and the defense of which was not paid for by state funds but by the individual office-holders, something that unscrupulous Democrats seized on and took full advantage of--were the ones that she herself championed and got enacted into law. She was hoist by her own petard, so to speak.
But the "quitter" complaint is just an blind and/or ignorant copmplaint, representing either a lack of understanding of the situation, and/or blinkered, biased partisanship.