We were going through a hard war halfway around the world (where I spent a lot of my time), we had the very proximate daily threat of a thermonuclear was, we had a violent civil rights battle going on and the cities on fire, assassination, war in the Middle East, inflation, the “race to the Moon”, the Oil Crisis, etc.,etc.
Meanwhile, the Left tore into him, day after day and the “antiwar” movement - a Leftist-led pro-enemy conspiracy - grew in numbers and power.
On a personal note, while I was in the hospital recovering from wounds, I wrote a telegram to him, thanking him for backing the opening of attacks against the Ho Chi Minh trail. He sent a hand-written letter back to me which I still have.
I was in high school when Nixon resigned, so I do remember Nixon in office, but the first Presidential election I was old enough to vote in was for Reagan in 1980 (I just missed being able to vote in the 1976 election by a year).