Our process of twice-yearly clock switching isn’t perfect. But on balance it works pretty well. Besides, if the country does go to a single time designation, would it be better to move to permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time?
In 1973, President Richard Nixon proposed making daylight saving time permanent to help the country get through an energy crisis. At the time, nearly 75% of Americans supported the plan. And then they didn’t. The reason was that without standard time in the winter — and the sun not rising until close to 8 a.m. in the Northeast and even later in the Midwest — students had to go to school when it was darker and colder, people had to go to work when it was darker and colder, and morning prayer schedules that are linked to sunrise were disrupted. Worse yet, the change was not found to conserve energy.
Permanent standard time with its earlier sunsets has other issues. In many places it is not conducive to more active spring and summer evenings and could have a significant financial impact on vacation locations and other venues. But sleep experts maintain that standard time is more closely aligned with human circadian rhythm, with the earlier daylight providing important cues for the body’s biological clock and earlier darkness signaling that it’s time to wind down and prepare for sleep.
According to some public polling, more than 60% of Americans favor stopping the biannual clock switching but are divided over which alternative to follow. Older adults expressed a clear preference for year-round daylight saving time while adults under 30 were closely divided over whether they wanted more daylight in the morning or later in the evening.
And now, President-elect Donald Trump has weighed in on the debate. According to his recent post on Truth Social, “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Savings Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Savings Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
Trump translators have mused that Trump didn’t really mean to endorse universal adoption of standard time as much as he simply wants to end the practice of clock switching. And it appears that both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — Trump’s new government efficiency gurus — are also promoting a single time designation.
But is that really the best way to go?
More than two years ago the U.S. Senate — often referred to as the world’s greatest deliberative body — unanimously passed a consent bill to make daylight saving time permanent. It did so, however, with what was reported to be “almost no warning and no debate.” The House hasn’t taken up the issue, and it shouldn’t.
Seasonal, twice-yearly clock adjustments, while inconvenient and slightly disruptive, bring Americans the best of both time worlds. That is a good reason not to change things. ■
