You seem to be mistaken about the way it worked. After the first round, the 3rd place candidate was dropped from the ballot and the 2nd choices on their ballot was distributed to the other candidates.
After the count, the winner had 51.5% of all votes cast vs 48.5%.
So, if all Republicans who voted for the other Republican chose Palin, she would have gotten 60%, as that was how it went based on the first vote.