Donald Trump quotes Daily Mail election model as he explains why world leaders are beating a path to Trump Tower

Donald Trump knows why world leaders are clamoring for meetings at Trump Tower: It is because he is favorite to win November’s election.

And he cited the DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners election model which on Wednesday gave him a 55 percent chance of beating Kamala Harris, who is on 45 percent, as evidence of his rise in the polls. 

He made his comments as he ended a press conference on the ground floor of Trump Tower.

The former president announced that he was due to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer later in the evening and was then going to sit down with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky on Friday morning.

‘Many of the leaders have been calling me. They wanna meet,’ he said.

‘I guess they see the polling. We are leading in the polls very seriously.

‘The Daily Mail just came out with a very big poll and we’re leading by 10.’

In fact, our election model crunches all the latest polling numbers, along with decades of voting figures and economic statistics, to try to forecast who has the best chance of winning the electoral college.

Last week, Harris had nosed ever so slightly ahead after a strong debate showing. The numbers suggested she had a 50.2 percent chance of victory.

But since then, a string of swing state polls has seen Trump regain the momentum he enjoyed earlier in the year.

The race remains on a knife edge and Harris is on course to win the popular vote.

Yet the results led some analysts to wonder whether Harris, catapulted into to the race when President Joe Biden dropped out in July, may already have enjoyed her best weeks. 

 ‘If current trends continue (although these have only been in place for a week or so) then we may see Trump take a more concrete lead in the race over the coming few weeks,’ said J.L. Partners data scientist Callum Hunter.

‘September seems to have been Harris’ high point and trends suggest that this high has come to an end.’

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has been meeting U.S. leaders after addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York. On Friday he will meet Trump

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to meet Trump on Thursday evening

It means Trump is in demand as world leaders hedge their bets and try to build relationships, or at least open lines of communication, with the man who could become the 47th president. 

Dozens and dozens of presidents and prime ministers are in town for the U.N.’s annual get-together of leaders just a few blocks from Trump’s New York base.

He had been due to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda at the weekend during a campaign event, but it was canceled. 

The former president hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago home in July.

And he also entertained former British Prime Minister David Cameron, when he was serving as foreign secretary, in April.

As well as a chance to build a relationship with a possibly future president, Trump is seen as a key influencer on Republican foreign policy making him a useful stop for visiting politicians looking to maintain U.S. support for Ukraine or push for a ceasefire in the Middle East.