As we brace ourselves for another hour of lost sleep tonight, it’s hard not to reflect on the absurdity of our biannual clock-changing ritual. President Donald Trump has made his stance on Daylight Saving Time (DST) known—he calls it "inconvenient and very costly to our nation," and since he’s been very effective at getting things done, our clock-switching days may be closer than ever to being over.
Let's face it—we're trapped in an outdated system that serves no real purpose anymore. We spend eight months on DST and four months on Standard Time, and no one really looks forward to the adjustment. The Wall Street Journal's research has confirmed what many of us suspected: there are no significant energy savings from this clock-switching chaos. So much for that justification.
Remember when they told us this was all about saving energy? Well, the reality is, modern businesses don’t change their hours of operation to match the time change. We’re perfectly capable of functioning in the light and the dark.
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Of course, the solution to the time changes isn’t easy to resolve. Heck, I have a complicated relationship with Daylight Savings and Standard Time. Sure, that extra hour of sleep when we switch to Standard Time feels great. But the trade-off? Those soul-crushing winter evenings when darkness descends the second you finish lunch. When I used to have an office job, nothing was more depressing than leaving the office at 5 p.m. in total darkness.
So what do Americans want?
A 2019 AP-NORC poll found that 40% preferred year-round Standard Time, 31% favored permanent Daylight Saving Time, and 28% wanted to keep switching. A Monmouth poll from 2022 found that 44% preferred permanent DST, 13% chose Standard Time, and 35% opted to maintain the time changes. A 2023 YouGov poll found that 31% wanted permanent DST, 19% supported permanent Standard Time, and 21% favored the status quo. There are more polls, but I’ll give you a spoiler alert: there's no clear consensus on whether Daylight Savings or Standard Time is preferred, but a strong majority dislikes the twice-yearly clock changes.
What we have is a bunch of polls with inconsistent results, meaning that the issue is likely divided three ways, with equal shares of the population wanting permanent DST, wanting permanent Standard Time, and wanting to keep things as they are. Therefore, we find ourselves in a situation where, no matter what happens, a lot of people will be unhappy. But that doesn’t mean change won’t happen. Frankly, Trump's on a winning streak lately, and his take on DST might just be the push we need to finally end the switch. But without a definitive public preference for this issue, it is probably too divisive for any real change to happen.
As for me? Though I love that extra hour of daylight, I find myself more interested in just not having to switch the clocks at all, and would likely be fine with either being permanent. So we’ll see what happens. Until then, enjoy your abridged sleep tonight and we’ll see if this gets a solution before November.
