There isn’t much love from registered voters for changing the clocks. Most will have to move them back this weekend, and though an extra hour of sleep might be nice, many will bemoan the earlier evening darkness that it brings.
Europe may lose Daylight Savings Time completely in 2021, and the latest Economist/YouGov Poll shows that by a wide margin, the US electorate are ready to follow them. Two-thirds of registered voters (66%) say they want to scrap DST, compared to only 14% who want to keep it in place.
Separately, given the choice between keeping Daylight Savings Times all year-round or sticking with the current system, half of voters (50%) choose to make the change. Only a quarter (24%) prefer to keep things as they are in this scenario.
Combining responses to the two questions show that so hated is the twice-yearly upset in routine that four in ten choose the option to stop the clocks changing in both scenarios. Among those who favor just one of the alternatives, eliminating DST (14%) is favored by more than keeping it all year long (6%). A mere 7% are stalwart fans of the current state of affairs, being opposed to both changes.
More than a third report that they are dreading having to wind their clocks back this year, twice the percentage who are looking forward to the event. But despite the high levels of dissatisfaction with the DST system, the largest share say they don’t really care one way or the other.
The largest share of those who are dreading the change are in the South, at 42%, compared to 30-32% in the rest of the country. Just one in five – or less – in every region are looking forward to it and the earlier darkness that comes with it. No demographic group is particularly happy with the change.
On all questions related to Daylight Savings Times there is little demographic or partisan difference. Change to make a simpler time system, whatever it is, would be popular.
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See the toplines and crosstabs from this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: The Economist survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,500 registered voters interviewed online between October 25 - 27, 2020. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the US Bureau of the Census, as well as 2016 Presidential vote, registration status, geographic region, and news interest. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all US citizens. The margin of error is approximately 3.1% for the overall sample.
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