Elon Musk’s daylight savings poll has sent shockwaves across America, sparking a furious debate about whether clocks should permanently be put forwards or backwards if it is scrapped.
While more than 1.2 million people answered his controversial poll, one question still remains: Will daylight savings time be abolished by this Sunday?
Clocks are expected to move forward by an hour this weekend, starting at 2am. This means many Americans will lose an hour of sleep, but also get to enjoy the sun later in the evening until November.
The billionaire First Buddy 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 the nation: ‘If daylight savings time change is canceled, do you prefer an hour earlier [or] an hour later.’
The poll officially closed on Thursday afternoon, with about 58 percent of participants voting for clocks to be pushed back an hour for good, and approximately 42 percent opting for them to be pushed forward an hour earlier.
But many have been left even more confused – with the Tesla CEO giving no clarification on if the changes will be permanently made in the next three days.
‘@elonmusk As in, permanently? I think we should go into daylight savings time on Sunday, March 9th, and just stay there forever,’ one person commented.
Elon Musk’s poll on X to see if Americans want to get rid of daylight savings for good has sparked a furious debate online. (Pictured: Musk at the US Capitol on Wednesday)
![On Wednesday night 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'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/03/06/17/95897837-14469485-On_Wednesday_night_Musk_shared_a_poll_on_X_asking_participants_I-a-33_1741280903150.jpg)
On Wednesday night 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’
Social media users shared their thoughts on the topic, with many begging for Musk to make it happen, and others pleading for him to leave daylight savings time alone.
‘@DOGE Elon, How about we have an EO to stop the waste of Daylight Savings Time? Supposed to occur again this Sunday!!,’ another said.
Someone else said: ‘President Trump has until Sunday, March 9th to save us all from yet another destructive time shift banning Daylight Savings Time.’
‘Daylight savings was made for farmers!! Do not cancel it!!!,’ one wrote, referring to the long-debated theory that daylight savings was created to help the agricultural community.
‘Gives us more sunlight late! It makes everyone more productive. Elon, please make this happen,’ another said.
‘You cannot improve on time. The day is what it is. Stop pretending. And BTW, who gave you authority to change it?,’ one wrote.
Another suggested: ‘Hot take but I think we should keep Daylight Savings Time.’
‘Keep Daylight savings time year around. Being a working mom and getting home later, I enjoy playing with kids outside after dinner and before they’re bathed and put to bed,’ someone else said.
Another commenter wrote: ‘Without daylight saving, kids will be riding to school in the dark or having sports training cancelled due to short evening hours.’
While many insisted that daylight savings time should remain, others were more than willing to kick it to the curb.
Now, many are wondering if his proposal will be put into place by Sunday – when clocks are expected to move forward by an hour. (Pictured: File photo of sunrise over corn field)
‘YES!! Spring forward this once more over the weekend and leave it for ever!! Standard time is bad for getting anything done and once we are set for good it we will get used to it,’ said another.
Someone else said: ‘Please may daylight savings time change be cancelled. It hurts human health to keep it, especially the spring forward change when humans lose an hour of sleep.’
‘Stay on real time. No more Daylight Saving Time,’ a commenter wrote.
While many people argued to keep daylight savings, and others voted to get rid of it, an Arizona resident noted that the state already doesn’t participate.
‘I’m in Arizona. Since we don’t change, do Arizona time,’ they said.
Arizona and Hawaii do not participate in daylight savings time, which marks the end of a sun-filled summer, and the beginning of a crisp fall.
People in Arizona, except the Navajo Nation, a Native American territory, do not observe the annual phenomenon simply because the state decided there was no reason to do so.
Meanwhile, Hawaii doesn’t follow daylight saving time because it is located close to the equator, meaning the state’s daily sunlight does not change frequently throughout the year.
While many believe that daylight savings was made to help farmers, others think it derived from Ben Franklin trying to save energy during World War I.
‘He suggests that Parisians could save a lot of money on candles if they got up earlier in the morning than sleeping until noon,’ Robert Allison, a Suffolk University history professor, told CBS News.
‘It is really an idea adopted during the First World War to save energy for the war effort,’ Allison continued.
While Musk has already made his mark on government through his sweeping changes to departments and ability to purge bloated agencies, a change to daylight savings would be his most far-reaching decision yet, impacting the lives of every single American.
Some states have been fighting to do away with the practice even before Trump weighed in on the annual event late last year.
‘The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in December.
‘Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.’
The US Senate passed a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent in 2022, but it failed to pass in the House.
‘[T]his past weekend, we all went through that biannual ritual of changing the clock back and forth, and the disruption that comes with it,’ Senator Marco Rubio said at the time.
‘And one has to ask themselves after a while, “Why do we keep doing it? Why are we doing this?”‘
Arizona and Hawaii do not participate in daylight saving time, which marks the end of a sun-filled summer, and the beginning of a crisp fall. (Pictured: File photo of man changing a clock)
Trump (pictured in 2020) pledged to roll back the clock changes during his election campaign
Rubio, now Secretary of State, has been another outspoken advocate for abolishing the change.
Legislation impacting Daylight Saving Time is currently being considered in multiple states, according to Fortune.
The states pushing for permanent Daylight Saving Time are Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois and Iowa.
Nearly two dozen other states – including California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania – have proposed making standard time permanent.
The nation observed permanent daylight time in 1974-1975. That happened during the oil crisis.
