Daylight saving time to be cancelled in US? Elon Musk asks Americans to vote on major change

Tech mogul Elon Musk has asked Americans on what they would prefer if the ritual of changing the clocks is scrapped. US President Donald Trump's billionaire pal launched the survey on Wednesday – just days before millions of households will put their clocks forward an hour.

Musk has advocated for 'canceling' daylight savings across the nation for months, on the back of a Trump campaign pledge to roll back the clock changes. On Wednesday Musk shared a poll on X, asking participants: 'If daylight savings time change is canceled, do you prefer an hour earlier [or] an hour later.'

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Americans on daylight savings time

As of early Thursday, over 1 million people have responded to his poll in just 13 hours. About 58 per cent participants said they'd prefer the clocks being pushed forward by an hour.


Clocks will jump forward an hour on Sunday as daylight savings begins, signaling the end of winter and early sunsets. Daylight saving time will begin on March 9 and will last until November 2.

This means Americans will lose an hour of sleep. But, the ritual of changing the clocks has been ridiculed by politicians and even Trump raised the possibility of ending the practice.

In December, Trump touted the idea of ending daylight saving time. “Daylight saving time is inconvenient and very costly to our Nation,” he wrote on Truth Social.

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After Musk asked Americans to chime in their opinions, post sparked heated debate among advocates for both options.

'Keep it an hour later—more sunlight in the evening means more productivity, outdoor time, and a natural energy boost. Who really wants it getting dark at 4 PM,' one said. But another person hit back to note: 'Standard Time. You can't cut off the bottom of a blanket and sew it to the top and make a longer blanket.'

What is daylight saving?

Daylight saving time dates back to 1918 and was known as war time. Politicians wanted to extend the working day for those who worked in factories, as well as conserve fuel to run those industries.

But, the law was scrapped after World War I because it wasn’t popular. Daylight saving time was brought back in 1942 during World War 2, but again it was temporary.

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It was made permanent in 1966, but politicians across the country have tried to eliminate the practice of changing clocks. Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that do not observe daylight saving time.

Back in November, Musk said it 'looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes', sparking an instant response from Trump's eldest son Don Jr.'100 per cent,' he wrote, using emojis. 'Leave it daylight savings time always.' His former partner at the Department of Government Efficiency, Vivek Ramaswamy, agreed, adding: 'It’s inefficient & easy to change.'