“...Palin is definitely turning off some people who might otherwise be tempted to vote for McCain.”
No candidate will turn every one on. For every person she turns off on the “east coast”, she will pick up 10 everywhere else that would not have voted for McCain. She nets a lot more than she loses. I have been around politics a very long time, and I have not seen a candidate that has energized people like this since Reagan. She is a winner.