I think the question is not whether or not people can relate to Hinata or not. To be honest, I have never met someone as shy and insecure as Hinata in real life who is constantly stalking her crush for more over than a decade. No human has such an unhealthy obsession towards their first infatuation. While Hinata's main character traits are gentleness and kindness, she does not reflect the full range of emotions and feelings people undergo through. Hinata has not been portrayed enough in the Manga to know her complete personality.
Out of all the characters, Sakura is indeed the most human. Except for her hair color, she has realistic body features (flat chest, big forehead), gained her skills through hard work and not inheritence, and is easily one of the most emotional characters throughout the entire series.-There's a reason why I wish I could be like Sakura sometimes, but I'm digressing.
Sakura's main problem is simply the everlasting hate a huge chunk of the fandom has towards her. Her "ordinary" human strength is nothing exciting to the people and -let's be honest- whenever she's around Sasuke, she pisses people of- very many people. Her confession was unpopular among the majority of the fandom as it was so easily misinterpreted and only decreased her popularity further. It's like Kishi is unaware of the hatred he himself is putting onto Sakura b/c of the way he portrays her in the manga.
What I'm trying to say is: When the writers had to make a decision b/w Sakura and Hinata, they chose Hinata b/c they knew that many people dislike Sakura. Kishi sold out. Period.
Not once will I believe that he intended Sakura not to come together with Naruto.
EDIT: If anyone even tried to watch the special yesterday, just don't, b/c if you thought they would explore the sister-relationship you were dead wrong.
I love Sakura because she's so flawed. As many others have said, it makes her real. She's the real person who should have taught Neji to ignore destiny; it certainly shouldn't have been reincarnated Naruto. But it's unfortunate that so many fans hated Sakura because of how she was portrayed in Part I. They refused to see her growth and maturation. They also ignore the fact that hitting Naruto isn't "abuse" but a trope. But what makes that even more unfortunate is that Kishi validated all this hate in 699 by turning her back into her Part I self.
Yeah, it's a tremendously sexist pov, and shows that Kishimoto, in the end, wasn't as good as his creations. The story ended on these lines. The hero is unchallenged and is awarded the long-devoted, long-suffering, flaw free, phsyically attractive girl. Sakura and Sasuke are paired and written off.
It's interesting though that in the promotional art Sakura is never shown with Sasuke. She's still always standing by Naruto. It's like the promotional people can't see her as someone who doesn't support Naruto, or someone who would choose Sasuke over Naruto, and would stand by him and support him instead. There's truth in that little bit of positioning that's happening over and over again in the advertising!!
So much of what Kishi has done and portrayed is sexist. But on top of that, so much of the fandom is reinforcing uncomfortable and misogynistic views. The people who justify Sasuke's treatment of Sakura; those who would denigrate Sakura for choosing to cast Sasuke aside in favor of a more supportive, loving partner in Naruto; and, especially, NS fans who think he deserves Sakura for being a "nice guy."
From a cultural standpoint, it's fascinating.
im so excited to see hoe its gonna do in theaters! Ill have my popcirn for the response!
Persona 5 hype 
