Axios Salt Lake survey respondents favor permanent standard time
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Last week we asked you to vote for your preferred seasonal time arrangement:
- Permanent daylight saving
- Permanent standard time
- Keep switching
- I don't care which but stop switching back and forth
Now that we're a few days into standard time, we can tell you: These earlier nights and brighter mornings do not seem to bother most respondents.
By the numbers: In our informal poll, permanent standard time was the most popular option, at 40.5%.
- Reality check: A majority of respondents were at least OK with permanent daylight saving; 27% preferred it, and another 24% said they didn't care, they just wanted to stop switching.
- Only 8% wanted to keep changing their clocks twice a year.
The intrigue: Utah lawmakers' efforts have focused on making daylight saving permanent, not standard time.
- A state law passed in 2020 will trigger permanent daylight saving time if Congress votes to allow it.
Yes, but: The push for permanent daylight saving has lost momentum in the past couple of years as medical experts have lined up in favor of standard time — the clock that's closer to our bodies' sleep schedules.
- A YouGov survey in March showed a preference for permanent daylight saving, but respondents also said their top factor was health.
- It also showed a significantly narrower preference for daylight saving in western states.
Zoom in: Like most of the West's population, Utah is already on the western edge of its time zone.
- With permanent daylight time, sunrise would be after 8am for about four months of the year, and after 8:45am for much of December and January.
Erin's thought bubble: My vampire heart loves the early nights. In the past three days, my family has settled in earlier and had more time to relax together.
- But the darkness feels like a gut punch for a lot of people. Here are some tips to mentally survive Utah's winter.