Daylight saving time debate: Will it stay or will it go?

• Daylight saving time is set to take place March 9. However, its future remains uncertain.
• President Donald Trump has expressed a desire to eliminate the annual tradition, calling it “inconvenient” and “very costly to our Nation.”
• A 2023 poll revealed that 62% of Americans want to eliminate the practice of changing the clocks, with half preferring year-round daylight saving time.

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Will it stay, or will it go? For now, daylight saving time will happen on March 9. However, whether it sticks around remains to be seen.  

President Donald Trump took to social media in December, advocating for eliminating daylight saving time and calling it “inconvenient” and “very costly to our Nation.”

Ending daylight saving time would mean Americans no longer need to “spring forward” their clocks. Most states have observed daylight saving time since the 1960s, though it was first introduced by President Woodrow Wilson in 1918. Currently, Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states not to observe the time change.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., reignited the Sunshine Protection Act in 2023, aiming to make daylight saving time permanent. The bipartisan bill, initially introduced by fellow Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, R, passed unanimously in the Senate in 2022 but stalled in the House.

A 2023 poll revealed that 62% of Americans want to eliminate the practice of changing the clocks, while only 21% prefer to keep the current system. Within the group favoring elimination, half prefer year-round daylight saving time, which allows for later sunrises and sunsets, while 31% favor year-round standard time.

Proponents of permanent daylight saving time argue it provides more sunlight later in the day, allowing for extended outdoor activities. Critics, however, contend it would result in darker mornings, posing a risk for children heading to school or waiting for the bus.

Health experts remain divided, with studies by Northwestern Medicine indicating links between daylight saving time and depression, slowed metabolism, weight gain and cluster headaches.

Despite the ongoing debate, daylight saving time will remain unchanged for now. During a press conference Thursday, March 6, President Trump spoke about whether he still plans to eliminate it.

“It’s a 50/50 issue, and if something is a 50/50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”

“It’s something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way. A lot of people like it the other way,” Trump continued. “It’s very even. And usually, I find when that’s the case, what else do we have to do?”