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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To wrap up the show on this Monday, after we move the clocks ahead or they moved us ahead, we will do an informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific call-in poll on whether you are for daylight saving time year-round, standard time year-round, or keep the rotation the way it is. 212-433-WNYC, call or text, 212-433-9692. Would you prefer 12 month a year daylight saving time? 12 month a year standard time? I know people have opinions about this, or keep it the way it is, going back and forth.

How do you either of these things, standard time, or daylight saving time, or just the fact of the change twice a year, affect you personally? Does it affect you the night of, week of, or even for a longer stretch of time after the clocks change? Or are you affected personally because you don't like the way it is in the winter, you don't like the way it is in the summer? Whatever. 212-433-9692. An informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific Brian Lehrer show call-in poll on whether you would vote, and Congress is actually looking at a proposal.

We'll get into that a little bit. Are you for year-round daylight saving time, year-round standard time, or keep the rotation kind of the way it is? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. There was a scientific poll last year, a Gallup poll found 54% of Americans want to see the end of saving time. 48% preferred standard time all year round. 48 of those 54%, 24%, only 24%. As I'm losing you in this blizzard of numbers, I know, only 24% wanted permanent daylight savings time. 48% twice as much preferred standard time all year.

If you are in either of those camps, tell us why. Two bills in Congress are apparently getting some traction. Earlier this month, Representative Greg Steube of Florida introduced the Daylight Act of 2026. That one proposes splitting the difference. Instead of a twice-yearly change of one hour each time, it would shift US time zones forward 30 minutes from the current standard time and leave them there permanently, according to USA Today's description of the bill. That is literally splitting the difference. Move the clocks forward from standard time a half hour and leave them there all year round.

There's also a reintroduction of another act by Representative Celeste Maloy, Republican of Utah, which would allow the states to decide if they want to observe daylight savings time. There are a few exceptions right now where they don't, but basically it's a national thing. Some people bring up being out of circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythms are thrown off by having the sun come up too late, which is a daylight savings time thing, at least part of the year under daylight savings time.

You don't get enough sleep, and then you don't get enough sleep on the back end because the sun is up too late, and your body doesn't start to wind down because of the darkness in the way that it should. That's one of the arguments against more daylight savings time, but I know you don't probably don't want the sun to come up at 3:30 in the morning either, as it would in New York if we kept standard time year-round. All right, a lot of people are calling in, a lot of people are texting. Let's see where this informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific poll winds up.

Daylight saving time year-round, standard time year-round. Split the difference with this 30-minute thing from Congress, or keep the rotation the way it is. We'll take your calls and texts right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Standard time year-round, daylight saving time year-round. Keep the rotation the way it is, and also how the actual changing of the time is in the fall and the spring, like this weekend, affects you personally. Louise in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Louise.

Louise: Hi, Brian. Good morning. I am very negatively affected by the time change, and I would prefer if they would keep it at standard time. Now, I don't know if I'm remembering this correctly, but I seem to think that years ago they tested out keeping daylight savings time year-round, and they didn't pursue that because they said it was too dark in the morning when kids were going to school, and it was dangerous, that there were accidents at bus stops and things like that. Then they never pursued it.

I thought there was something in Congress a few years ago about keeping one of them standard or daylight savings time, something like around 2024 or 2025. We never heard anything about it again. Do you remember, did they do anything like that a few years ago? Not a few. Many years ago.

Brian Lehrer: I guess that's the one that I was referring to before. Oh, the one many years ago. I don't know, but what you bring up is certainly what a lot of people bring up, that it will be still dark for part of the year at eight o'clock, maybe 8:30, when you're trying to get kids to school. That's not good for their mental health as well as the risk of crashes that are physically dangerous to the kids. The bill that's currently before Congress, as I mentioned before, proposes doing away with daylight saving time and splitting the difference 30 minutes ahead of standard time, and just keep it there year-round.

Terry in Manhattan might like that idea. Terry, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Terry: Hi, how you doing? I'm a morning runner, so when we set the clocks ahead this early in March, you're running in the dark, which I don't like.

Brian Lehrer: It's funny because for me, my personal preference, though I understand this may not be the best for the world, would be daylight saving time all year round because I'm an evening runner, and by the time I finish work in a lot of months of the year, it's too late. Where if there was another hour of daylight, I could go out there, but I hear you, Terry, go ahead.

Terry: Also, I get up around 5:30 in the morning, and I don't like waking up in the dark. Even if I'm an early riser, I don't like it still being dark as it is now until about 7:00, but one way you could split the difference is to go back to the pre-1974 change dates because prior to 1974, you turn the clocks ahead on March 31st and turn them back on October 27th. Now we do early March and November 30th. We've extended daylight saving time by about two months. The result of that is in March you have these really, really dark mornings and the same thing in November.

Maybe that's the way to split the difference, go back to the pre-1974.

Brian Lehrer: Terry, thank you very much. Here's that thing that Louise was referring to. We just looked it up. Yes, America tried this before, and the country hated it because Terry was bringing this up, too. It says in the early 1970s, America was facing an energy crisis, so the government tried an experiment. Congress passed a law to make daylight saving time permanent year-round, but just for two years. The thinking was more sunlight in the evening would reduce the nation's energy consumption, but apparently it became very unpopular quickly.

The story continues. Americans do not like changing their clocks, but they disliked even more going to work and school in the dark for months. The price the nation had to pay for more sunlight in winter evenings. How about Radwan in Tenafly around WNYC? Hi, Radwan.

Radwan: Hey, Brian. Thank you for taking my call. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got? What do you like?

Radwan: My opinion about this is basically I'm for it because I think it's good to be pushed sometimes and to something that disrupts our routine. We don't always need to always look for convenience because it's not a very good way to go through life, even for kids, [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: You mean just the fact that we have to adjust to this one-hour difference twice a year is a good little disruption because it breaks us out of our routines. Is that what you're saying?

Radwan: Yes, exactly. I think it pushes us to collectively think of the changes, adapt. Yes, you're going to lose some sleep, but it's one of the small challenges of life.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting. Then what do you think about this? You might like this from another listener in a text that goes even further than you, I think, in the same direction. Listener wrote, "Keep as is, but make the change at 2:00 PM instead of 2:00 AM so everyone can celebrate the change."

Radwan: Oh, wow, yes, exactly. We are actually on the same page. To me it doesn't matter, but definitely it's a good small lesson to teach kids as they grow up, because I come from another country, I'm an immigrant, I come from Morocco. I notice people when we-- there's a big difference because I think in this country, most people will always look for convenience. Like, if there is no air conditioning, it's a big problem.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Radwan--

Radwan: In other countries, it's not. [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Call us again. We appreciate your call. Let's see, here's another text. Where did it go? "Daylight saving is rough. I think whoever is responsible for letting it continue should run small children's bedtime and morning routines after the time change and then decide whether the keeping the status quo is good for America." That seems to be where a lot of our listeners are landing, actually. Let's finish up with Lee on Staten Island. Lee, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Lee: Hi, Brian, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. Real quick, what you got?

Lee: I'm in favor of the current system, but if it was going to go to one or the other all year, I would prefer regular standard time.

Brian Lehrer: Because?

Lee: Again, because of what was said earlier by the caller from Manhattan, because of the people that have to go to work early, and the children on the bus stop.

Brian Lehrer: Lee, thank you for your call. Thanks to all of you for weighing in on standard time, daylight saving time, keep it the way it is. Move it a half hour. Celebrate it at 2:00 PM so everybody can go, "Whee, we're changing something different." Instead of 2:00 AM, and that's The Brian Lehrer Show for today. Produced by Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum, with our spring interns, Arlo Bivins and Jack Walker, Juliana Fonda, and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. Stay tuned for Alison.

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