berwyn, pa. <u+2014> melania trump made a rare appearance on the campaign trail in the battleground state of pennsylvania on thursday, seeking to soften her husband<u+2019>s coarse image by proclaiming to voters that donald j. trump respects all americans and promising that as president he would promote values of compassion and charity across the country. the deployment of ms. trump comes as her husband<u+2019>s campaign is trying to extend a late burst of momentum before election day by swaying undecided voters and women who have been wary of the republican nominee. urging americans to <u+201c>find a better way to talk to each other<u+201d> amid one of the most caustic presidential campaigns in recent history, ms. trump cast immigrants as patriots and lamented, in spite of her husband<u+2019>s tough talk on twitter, cyberbullying as one of the country<u+2019>s worst problems. mr. trump needs the trove of wealthy and educated voters in the counties surrounding philadelphia to succeed in turning the state red for the first time since 1988, but many of those former republicans have been turned off by his comments about immigrants and women. ms. trump, who is trying to change that, spoke at a recreational center in this main line town about 20 miles west of philadelphia. as her fans waved <u+201c>women for trump<u+201d> signs, ms. trump told her story of immigrating to the united states, emphasizing the arduous 10-year process that she went through, and described immigrants as the ultimate patriots. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m an immigrant, and let me tell you that nobody values the freedom and opportunity of america more than me,<u+201d> ms. trump, dressed in pink and standing between six american flags, said. despite signs of overall tightening in the race, a quinnipiac university poll of likely pennsylvania voters released this week showed the uphill fight that mr. trump is facing among women in the state. hillary clinton leads him with that demographic by 20 percentage points, as many female voters have been turned off by mr. trump<u+2019>s proclivity to make sexist comments. the hope for the trump campaign is that ms. trump, a former slovenian model, can help smooth mr. trump<u+2019>s rough edges. on occasion, she has even told him to tone down his habit of being on twitter into the wee hours, and on thursday explained that combating online bullying would be her top priority as first lady. <u+201c>our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers,<u+201d> ms. trump said. <u+201c>it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet.<u+201d> she added, <u+201c>we have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other.<u+201d> the comments were a sharp contrast from the vitriol of the campaign, and some on social media noted that mr. trump had attributed much of his political success to his ability to bully rivals and critics with cutting posts on twitter. the calls for a more civil discourse also clashed with the tone of some of mr. trump<u+2019>s supporters who came to see ms. trump. before ms. trump arrived, chants of <u+201c>lock her up<u+201d> directed at mrs. clinton spontaneously erupted. some trump supporters carried signs labeling former president bill clinton a rapist and others wore shirts suggesting that mrs. clinton should be killed. whether ms. trump<u+2019>s late foray into campaigning will work remains to be seen. many of the women who attended her rally in pennsylvania said they were already committed to mr. trump and that they had been waiting to finally see his wife in person. <u+201c>she<u+2019>s a beautiful, classy woman,<u+201d> micki dibella, 61, of broomall, pa., said. <u+201c>and she<u+2019>s an immigrant. to me, that means donald trump doesn<u+2019>t care if you were born in america.<u+201d> susan jane, of gwynedd valley, pa., said that ms. trump was the most effective advocate for her husband because of her warmth and positive persona. <u+201c>they try to paint him as a monster,<u+201d> she said, <u+201c>but if he was a monster, she wouldn<u+2019>t be married to him.<u+201d> although ms. trump has tried to avoid the brutal combat of presidential politics, it has proved nearly impossible to escape. during the campaign, she has faced scrutiny of her immigration status, questions about her educational history and even accusations that she was once an escort. she has also had photographs of her posing nude strewn across the internet, and last month had to publicly accept mr. trump<u+2019>s apology for talking, in a 2005 <u+201c>access hollywood<u+201d> video, about inappropriately grabbing women. ms. trump has been mostly absent from the campaign trail, aside from a handful of television interviews, since an address at the republican national convention in july. that ended in calamity after it was revealed that passages from ms. trump<u+2019>s remarks were lifted from a speech delivered years ago by michelle obama. the episode became a surprising distraction at the convention, and ms. trump has largely receded from the spotlight since then to focus on raising her 10-year-old son with mr. trump, barron. in welcoming ms. trump to the state, the pennsylvania democratic party made light of the convention speech on thursday, sending out an email that purported to contain <u+201c>exclusive<u+201d> excerpts from ms. trump<u+2019>s remarks. the text, however, was of a speech that had been given by mrs. obama. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the morning briefing newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on november 4, 2016, on page a22 of the new york edition with the headline: melania trump campaigns for civility. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
melania trump, solo in pennsylvania, tries to smooth husband<u+2019>s rough edges
alan rappeport