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Article snippet: MORE will deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday at one of the most vulnerable moments of his presidency — and supporters and detractors alike are skeptical he can turn things around. The problem, they say, is that opinions of Trump have become even more deeply entrenched, both for and against, since the partial government shutdown. It will be very tough to shift them, even amid the pomp and circumstance of the annual event. “Voter opinions of Trump are locked in, and there is very little room for movement there,” said Doug Heye, a former communications director of the Republican National Committee (RNC). The nation’s polarized atmosphere will also drive responses to the speech. “He could give a Franklin Delano Roosevelt-type inspirational speech, and the Democrats would say it was horrible and the Republicans would say it was wonderful,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor who specializes in political communications. “The response is baked in before he even gets up there.” But if the State of the Union ends up not nudging the political dynamics in any meaningful way, that will be bad news for Trump. The president suffered a serious political setback — a self-inflicted wound, in the eyes of his critics — during the 35-day shutdown in December and January. The episode raised questions even in the minds of his loyal base as to whether he will ever build the wall that he promised at almost every stop of his 2016 campaign. The president, whose... Link to the full article to read more