Time to set back the clocks, much to Trump’s chagrin

Tick tock – clocks in America will fall back this Sunday. It could be the last time, if President Trump and some like-minded lawmakers get their way. But the debate over making daylight saving time permanent has proven divisive even within the president’s party.

The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act earlier this year, which would end the semiannual clock change, but the Senate has yet to pick it up.

Trump has been a big proponent for the permanent change, slamming the Senate for “letting the Daylight Saving Bill die, when a vast Majority of the Country want it.”

“Most people are demanding light in the evening, but ALL want not to change their clocks anymore,” he wrote on Truth Social earlier this week. “TAKE A VOTE!”

Congress isn’t currently in session, and won’t be back until after the clocks change.

At his Mississippi rally on Monday, Trump called the clock change “ridiculous” and said it “drives everyone crazy, which nobody wants to do anymore.”

He pointed to data showing less crime is committed when there’s more light in the evening. Earlier this month, he argued the setback “costs our Country a fortune, is bad for Crime, stress on people, Sports, and just about everything else you can imagine.”

But voices on both sides of the debate can cite data proving their case.

Rep. Mary Gary Scanlon (D-PA) and Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-NC) introduced bipartisan legislation in July called the Sunshine for Our Kids Act that would establish a permanent standard time (the current norm from November to March).

They worry more sunlight in the evenings leaves mornings dark for schoolchildren and commuters.

“For decades, scientists and medical professionals have highlighted the detrimental mental and physical health impacts of twice-a-year clock changes, particularly on children and teens,” Scanlon said in a statement .

At least one Republican agrees with them: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), typically a staunch Trump supporter.

“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” he wrote in a post on X earlier this month. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”

An AP-NORC poll from last October found that 12 percent of U.S. adults favor the twice-a-year change, while 47 percent oppose it and 40 percent are indifferent about it.

Some 56 percent said they would prefer daylight saving time year-round, while 42 percent said they would rather standard daylight time year-round.

The golfing industry is a leading proponent of the argument that more daylight in the evenings is better for business – and the economy generally, with more people staying out after work and school.

“Overall, permanent DST is viewed as more beneficial to the golf industry, particularly for small business revenue, accessibility to the game, and general recreational enjoyment and benefits,” National Golf Course Owners Association CEO Jay Karen testified before a Senate committee last year.

“Our industry is uniquely tied to daylight, and the number of playable hours directly affects the number of rounds we can offer, the staff we employ, and the revenue we generate, especially in the late afternoon and early evening.”

An analysis from JP Morgan Chase Institute found that in Los Angeles, when compared to a city like Phoenix that does not observe daylight saving, debit card spending per capita rose at the beginning of daylight saving by 0.9 percent. However, spending dropped 3.5 percent following the end of daylight saving time.

Andy Owen, the director of advocacy communications at the National Association of Convenience Stores, said the association doesn’t take an official position on permanent daylight saving time “although we would be comfortable with it.”

“Shifting daylight to the end of the day tends to be good for business because it provides more time for shopping after regular work hours,” he said. “We want what’s good for businesses.”

Studies do support Trump’s argument that crime and accidents occur less with permanent daylight saving time. One study found that full-year daylight saving would reduce pedestrian fatalities by 13 percent and motor vehicle occupant fatalities by 3 percent.

Similarly, research has found that robberies drop about 7 percent for the entire day and 27 percent during the evening hour when sunlight is gained.

David Bieri, an associate professor at Virginia Tech, put together a brief on which states would benefit the most and least if daylight saving time was made permanent.

He found that permanent daylight saving time would pay off more in the north and on the eastern side of the time zones, like Seattle, Boston and Chicago.

“Permanent daylight time’s safety case is strongest in places like Boston and weakest in places like Indianapolis,” he said.

And while Trump said the twice-a-year clock change is “stress on people,” health associations like the American Academy of Sleep Medicine , the American Medical Association and the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms all say standard daylight time is better for health than daylight saving time.

“There’s the immediate hit and then there’s the slow burn,” Dr. Carla Finkielston, a professor with Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, said of the health effects linked to the time changes.

“In the first few days after the spring change, researchers have reported shorter sleep, worse performance, a bump in heart attacks compared with neighboring weeks, and possibly more traffic accidents,” she said.

“The slow burn is the mismatch that sticks around, which we call social jetlag. Populations carrying more of that mismatch show higher rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, depression, and some cancers, along with shorter sleep and more trouble with mood and thinking.”

“The logic is simple enough. Standard Time is the arrangement where the clock on the wall sits closest to the sun overhead, so it asks the least of our biology,” she added.

While Trump has said the changing of the clocks is “a big inconvenience, and for our government, a VERY COSTLY EVENT,” studies have found that DST actually costs more.

Research from Chmura Economics & Analytics found that the total economic cost of DST in the U.S. is estimated at roughly $672.02 million annually, between lost productivity, injuries and accidents due to the sleep loss.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) doesn’t seem anxious to move on Trump’s daylight savings demands. He said earlier this month that there was no clear path for a successful vote on permanent daylight saving time in the Senate, despite the House passing the bill in a 308-117 vote.

Whether a Democratic majority would be inclined to make a change remains to be seen.

“The clock is shared infrastructure — a public good like weights and measures,” Bieri said. “When the evidence is a coin toss, Washington shouldn’t pick the option that once again favours the places that already have the most.”