Cher once pondered how much better life could be if she could turn back time. But most Americans wish they didn't have to every November, according to a new YouGov survey. Two-thirds of Americans say they would like to eliminate changing the clocks twice a year, following the leads of Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe Daylight Saving Time. If the U.S. were to stop changing its clocks, more Americans would prefer to permanently spring forward and stay in Daylight Saving Time all year than to fall back to year-round Standard Time. That may be because most Americans prefer for it to get darker later in the evening, while views about when it gets light in the morning are more split. But there's more support than opposition for both Permanent Standard Time and Permanent Daylight Saving Time, meaning many Americans support ending the yearly time change regardless of which time is picked.

About two-thirds (64%) of Americans say they would like it if clocks no longer changed twice a year. Only 16% say they would not like to see the changing of the clocks eliminated. Eliminating the time change has strong support regardless of partisanship: Majorities of Democrats (56%), Independents (62%), and Republicans (75%) would all support an end to time changes. Support is relatively consistent between early weekday risers (people who generally wake up before 6 a.m.), medium risers (who wake up from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.), and late risers (who wake up after 8 a.m.): About two-thirds of each group supports ending time changes.

If time changes were to be eliminated, more Americans would prefer Permanent Daylight Saving Time, with its later sunrises and sunsets, than Permanent Standard Time's earlier sunrises and sunsets (43% vs. 28%). In this scenario, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans would choosePermanent Daylight Saving Time over Permanent Standard Time at similar rates. There's more difference by wake-up time: While late risers favor Permanent Daylight Saving Time by about a two-to-one margin (49% vs. 23%), early risers are close to evenly split (38% vs. 33%).

Though Americans are more likely to prefer Permanent Daylight Saving Time than Permanent Standard Time, many Americans are happy with either as long as it means an end to time changes. More Americans support than oppose both Permanent Standard Time (43% vs. 23%) and Permanent Daylight Saving Time (51% vs. 19%). Americans who wake early, late, and in between all are more likely to support than to oppose both permanent time options.

Stronger support for Permanent Daylight Saving Time likely stems from Americans' preferences about sunrise and sunset times. Most Americans (64%) say they prefer for it to get dark later in the evenings. Only 15% prefer for it to get dark earlier. On the other hand, views about sunrise times are split: 33% prefer for it to get light earlier in the morning and 35% prefer for it to get light later.

Majorities of early risers (59%), medium risers (65%), and late risers (69%) prefer for it to get dark later in the evenings. But views on the morning are, naturally, more shaped by wake-up time. While early risers are more likely to prefer it to get light earlier (43% vs. 27% who prefer it to get light later), late risers are more likely to have the opposite view (26% vs. 43%).

Decisions about time changes always come with tradeoffs and you can't please everyone. 21% of Americans prefer for it to get light earlier and dark later. (The temporal equivalent of having your cake and eating it too?) There's not much you can do to achieve that, short of switching hemispheres every six months for double the summer. Preferring it to get light later and dark earlier is much rarer: Only 5% of Americans share these preferences. (When YouGov opens its Transylvania operation, we'll report back on whether they're more common there.) Time changes can't meet these preferences, but the opposite hemisphere swap could work, as could, more simply, black-out curtains.

Daylight Saving Time? Fuhgeddaboudit

It's a common opinion to wish away the two annual clock changes, and many Americans have gotten ahead of the game by thinking less about changing clocks: 15% of Americans say they usually or always forget about the change to Daylight Saving Time, and 22% say they sometimes do. Only 29% say they never forget about the time change.

Younger adults are particularly prone to say they forget about the time change: 24% of those under 30 say they usually or always forget about changing the clocks, and only 39% of this group rarely or never forgets about the time change — perhaps because for much of their lives, many clocks have made the change automatically. In contrast, older Americans are much less likely to say they forget about Daylight Saving Time: 39% of Americans 45 and older say they never forget about the change, over twice the share of younger adults (17%).

— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article

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See the results of this poll

Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on February 13 - 19, 2026, among 1,075 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 points.

Image: Getty (Anna Blazhuk)

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