Almost a month into the summer, many Americans want things to go this way. They prefer more Americans permanent summer schedule to permanent standard time, but not overwhelmingly. Those who want more daylight in the evening than in the morning all year round say it’s because it puts them in a better mood and they feel more productive later in the day, among other reasons they gave for preferring normal hours.
But not everyone is on board. One-third of Americans would prefer standard hours to be extended year-round. The main reasons they gave are that they believe it is more closely associated with human biological rhythm and that people sleep better during standard time.
One thing that is quite clear is that there is not much enthusiasm for most of the country now: switching between daylight saving time and standard time. Only one in five Americans would want to keep that.
Virtually all demographic and political groups favor the extension of daylight saving time to the entire year compared to standard time. It is rare these days to find a partisan agreement on many issues, but Republicans, Democrats and independents have a preference for permanent summer time during the permanent standard time. Last month, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent. The House of Representatives has not yet voted on the measure.
Older Americans are a little more likely than younger ones to want daylight saving time to be permanent. Like Americans in general who prefer it, older people also say it’s because it puts them in a better mood, but the energy savings are just behind among those over 65, more so than younger Americans who prefer summer time.
People living in the Northeast, Midwest, and South have a preference for permanent summer time. However, those in the West, where there are two states that are in permanent standard time, are divided on their views.
This CBS News / YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,612 adult U.S. residents interviewed between March 29 and 31, 2022. The sample was weighted by gender, age, race. and education according to the U.S. Census of the U.S. Census and Current Population Survey, as well as the 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is ± 3.1 points.
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