On Friday, Donald Trump advocated for abolishing daylight saving time in a message shared on Truth Social.
“The Republican Party is committed to doing its utmost to eradicate Daylight Saving Time, which has a minor yet passionate following, but it shouldn’t exist! Daylight Saving Time is a hassle and imposes significant costs on our nation,” the president-elect expressed—contradicting his earlier statements during his presidency.
“I’m perfectly fine with making Daylight Saving Time a permanent fixture!” Trump stated back in 2019.
His shift in perspective may be influenced by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who announced last month their desire to eliminate the clock changes.
A majority of American adults are against the biannual ritual of adjusting their clocks, but they remain ambivalent about whether they prefer permanent daylight saving time or standard time. Trump has not indicated a preference.
Last year, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s appointee for secretary of state, reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which had received unanimous approval from the Senate in 2022 but has yet to advance through the House. This proposal, aimed at establishing permanent daylight saving time, was co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville and Massachusetts’ Ed Markey.
Standard time, which occurs during the winter months, provides more daylight in the morning, while daylight saving time, observed in the summer, extends evening daylight.
In the 1970s, Congress declared daylight saving time permanent, but this initiative was short-lived as public sentiment turned against it. Parents, for example, expressed concerns about increased traffic accidents in the morning when children were heading to school in darkness.
The last alteration to daylight saving time took place in 2005 when the Energy Policy Act lengthened the period by roughly four weeks, shifting from April to October to March to November.
A total of twenty states have passed legislation to adopt year-round daylight saving time, but these measures cannot take effect without federal approval. Arizona and Hawaii have both opted for permanent standard time.
