I may be making some assumptions here, so let me know if my initial premise is wrong.
I'm assuming that, as information started to circulate in DC about what happened with Watergate, Nixon enjoyed support from at least some in his own party. I'm also assuming that this support eventually fell away as it became apparent what was happening during the investigation of the facts.
So my question is: What is the timeline here? How long did it take for Nixon to go from being supported to being unsupported?
His support actually increased among Republicans, similar persecution rhetoric as a situation outside the 20 year rule, and he had strong partisan support well into 1974 (scandal broke in 1972). This remained true after the Saturday night massacre in 1973 etc.
The release of the tapes in summer of 1974 shifted public sentiment enough that republican politicians finally dropped support for him en masse (Goldwater thought he might have 12-15 senators still in support of him).
On my phone, so forgive the source, but less than a third of republican voters supported him being impeached within a week of him resigning via Gallup poll screenshotted there.
https://mobile.twitter.com/williamjordann/status/863753990907015170
Related: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/even-the-biggest-scandals-cant-kill-party-loyalty/