News Analysis: Trump needs to tone down immigration rhetoric to woo moderate voters

As U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump prepares to make a speech on the hot-button issue of immigration on Wednesday, analysts said he needs to tread softly if he wants to woo moderates voters.

The controversy over Trump began around a year ago when the bombastic billionaire sparked a firestorm by comparing Mexican immigrants to criminals and rapists, while vowing to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep illegal migrants from entering the U.S.

While his over-the-top way of speaking has galvanized white, working-class males, it has turned off most other demographics. And Trump needs to move beyond his base to win the presidential race in November, analysts said.

In recent weeks, Trump has made an effort to tone down his rash rhetoric.

Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that to reach the broader electorate, Trump's best hope is to explain that he understands the anger of many Americans about illegal immigration.

Trump also needs to tell Americans that he wants to combine a tough approach to border security and deportation of immigrants with criminal records alongside a realistic and humane approach to the 11 million illegal migrants, taking into consideration their contribution to the economy, Mahaffee said.

This is similar to what former Republican nomination contenders Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio proposed, but goes against a lot of Trump's previous positions on this topic.

"Sounding more presidential and moderating these policies will be important, yet Trump can be unpredictable in whether he is reaching out to moderates or firing up his populist base," Mahaffee said, referring to Wednesday's upcoming speech.

Indeed, recent months have seen Trump make an effort to seem more presidential, making serious foreign policy speeches, but then days later has reverted back to insulting his opponents, which has turned off moderates.

While the last week has seen a more serious Trump focused on the issues rather than on making what critics see as crude comments, analysts wonder whether Trump can avoid the temptation to make off-the-cuff and controversial remarks.

While this has won him major points with his supporters, who are fed up with the political correctness of Washington while the country goes down the tubes, it will not help Trump win over moderates.

Meanwhile, there remains much controversy over the wall on the U.S.-Mexican border that Trump said he wants to build.

Mahaffee said many Americans want a secure border, yet understand that a wall will be costly, and likely ineffective on a border as long as that of the U.S. and Mexico.

For many moderates, the question remains, is the wall an actual wall, or was it a campaign promise designed to appeal to the Republican base, while the reality will be improved surveillance, patrols, and electronic monitoring, he said.

Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua the wall with Mexico helps Trump with his populist base, but turns off moderate voters.

"Building something like this over the long border between the two countries would cost many billion dollars," West said.

It is not clear that wall would stop the flow of illegal immigrants because it would take years to build and would immediately lead to tunnels under the wall, West added. Enditem