Time to kill? Daylight saving falls out of favor with most Americans

Most Americans say it is time to pull the plug on daylight saving time.

According to a Gallup poll, 54% say they are ready to do away with springing forward and falling back, 40% want to stick with the clock switching ritual, and 6% are on the fence.

This marked a dramatic change since the last time Gallup asked the question in 1999. It was found that 73% of Americans embraced daylight saving time, and 23% opposed it.

There is renewed momentum in Washington to scrap daylight saving, which is slated to start Sunday at 2 a.m. when the clocks spring ahead to 3 a.m.

President Trump signaled he supports a change, saying last year that daylight saving time is “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

A major hurdle has been the Federal Uniform Time Act of 1966, which mandated daylight saving time to take advantage of the longer daylight hours in the summer.

The law allows states to opt out and follow permanent standard time. It does not allow states to adopt full-time daylight saving time.

Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that don’t observe daylight saving time.

There have been efforts in Congress to change the federal law to allow states to have year-round daylight saving time. The U.S. Senate in 2022 passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent starting in 2023. The bill died in the House.

Sens. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, and Patty Murray, Washington Democrat, are giving it another shot.

In January, they introduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which seeks to “lock the clock” by making daylight saving time the national year-round standard.

“I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year – it’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than benefit to them,” Mr. Scott said.

Ms. Murray said, “Every winter folks in Washington state despair at the prospect of losing an hour of precious sunlight when we are forced off daylight saving time.”

State lawmakers have been preparing for the possible change.

“State legislatures have considered over 700 bills and resolutions in recent years to establish year-round daylight saving time as soon as federal law allows it,” according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Conducted Jan. 21 to Jan. 27, the Gallup poll included 1,001 respondents and had a margin of error of 4%.