In regards to public perception mostly. Having signed into law the bills that created OSHA and the EPA, built diplomatic ties with China, and other progressive reforms, was Nixon viewed as potentially another "great" president for this sort of work? Was the level of reform and diplomacy considered above average for a president to accomplish?
It seems as if he's vilified in modern times for his roles in Vietnam and Watergate, but how did the contemporary public view him?
Certainly. In spite of him blowing off his own party, he won 49 states at a time where the New Deal coalition, though disintegrating, still held a lock on lower levels of politics. He won demographics that no Republican candidate had ever won before in 1972-apart from the intelligentsia classes, the only major components of the New Deal Coalition that were majority McGovern were blacks and Jews. He had a near 70 percent approval rating before Watergate blew. That wasn't all because he was a crook. Nor was that all because McGovern was 40 years before his time.
Apart from the foreign policy successes and domestic competence, it was perceived among the majority of Americans that Nixon restored law and order to the nation. Given the atmosphere of 1968, this was no trivial accomplishment. Nixon was well on his way to being viewed as a good President outside of the ideological left of the nation. The ideological right was dissatisfied with him in many ways, but they were stuck with him, and he had the "right" enemies, to boot. Nixon had some pretty grandiose ideas for his second term, and they were generally popular with the bulk of the American people, if not with Congress and others.
That's part of why Watergate hurt so much. It was the last thing the nation needed right after Vietnam. Nixon was not and never was loved, but he was respected, and people thought that things were finally going to go back to normal. Watergate changed all that.