You're engaging in a form of affirming the consequent here. You're basically saying that the candidates were hurt because of (deferred) support of Palin. Since the candidates weren't hurt, then Palin had no support.
I Would tend to think it's a bit more complicated than that.
I don’t think it’s more complicated. Why were people so upset after she announced she wasn’t running, and why did people show up in Iowa to see her speech around Labor Day? Because they thought she was running, and refrained from getting excited about the other candidates. Palin milked it to the end.