Palin was an idiotic right-wing populist who eventually graduated college.
Harris is a left-wing/moderate prosecutor who graduated from law school.
I'd say Harris is a "tad" bit more ambitious and certainly a trillion times smarter than Palin, who was a political aberration that helped stoke the teabagger movement.
Graduating law school is not the intellectual fear you seem to think it is. Especially a middling at best law school like Hastings.
That said, sure, Kamala Harris is not as dumb as Sarah Palin.
However, she has poor judgment even when she knows better.
I am not sure that is any better, frankly. It may be worse.