Could daylight savings be abolished? Everything you need to know as Musk asks Americans to vote

Billionaire Elon Musk has suggested there is a possibility daylight savings could be abolished in the United States after a 'vote.

US president Donald Trump’s unelected sidekick has once again taken to his social media platform X/Twitter to conduct a poll that could inform policy, after he asked people about their view on what should happen if daylight savings was abolished.

Prior to his election, Trump pushed for an end to daylight saving time, calling it inconvenient and costly. Now Musk has asked people if they want the time to permanently be an hour earlier or later.

In a X/Twitter poll on Wednesday (5 March), Musk asked: “If daylight savings time change is canceled, do you prefer an hour earlier [or] an hour later.”

Over 1.2 million people voted, with 58.2 per cent of them calling for it to be an hour later.

The informal poll is timely, as this coming Sunday (9 March), the clocks in the US go forward by one hour.

People in the comments had a lot of opinions on the topic of daylight savings.

Someone claimed: “(Most) people prefer sunlight later into the day. The data on mental health say more sun earlier in the day is better, but people would have to get up and view that sunlight to reap the benefits.

“Data also say ‘lock the clock’ is better than shifting 2x per year so we can’t lose!”

Someone else said: “I can’t believe how many people enjoy it getting dark at 4pm.”

Another argued: “Standard Time. You can't cut off the bottom of a blanket and sew it to the top and make a longer blanket.

“Days get longer naturally from the Winter Solstice to the Summer Solstice and then shorter again to the Winter Solstice. It's NATURE. These semi-annual time changes disrupt circadian rhythms of humans, pets, and livestock. KEEP STANDARD TIME.”

It’s not clear if, or when, a cancellation of daylight savings might be on the cards. But many have come to regret supporting the Trump administration’s actions, like the Trump voters on TikTok who admit they “made a mistake” after being hit by DOGE cuts.

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