Nixon was actually quite popular. Most in the country were skeptical about the allegations and there was a lot of talk akin to the modern phrase "political witch-hunt". Then the country heard the POTUS on tape and the tide turned. GOP Senators went to the White House and told him he had two choices, resign or be convicted in the Senate and removed from office.I’m much too young to remember, but did Nixon have any sort of widespread support post-presidency comparable to Trump’s MAGA cult? Hadn’t his own party effectively deserted him, as he knew the Senate would convict him, and instead just chose to resign rather than be removed from office?
At that point, no, he did not have the kind of popular support Trump has now. Yet there was a rather influential group of people who remained loyal to Nixon and were pissed at "the media" for causing Nixon's downfall (see a theme?). Among those was some guy named Roger Ailes. This fury also directly led to the ending of the Fairness Doctrine as well as the consolidation of media empires.
