HPU Poll: 40% of North Carolinians Prefer Year-Round Daylight-Saving Time

HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 30, 2025 – A recent survey by High Point University’s Survey Research Center reveals a majority of North Carolinians (51%) favor ending the biannual clock changes associated with daylight saving time. The poll finds that just less than half of respondents (40%) prefer a change to year-round daylight-saving time. This would mean a later sunrise and more daylight in the evening. This is a slight drop compared to a November 2023 poll.

Only 11% of respondents would prefer year-round standard time. This would result in an earlier sunrise and less daylight in the evening. Another 23% of respondents favor keeping the current system of switching between daylight saving time and standard time, which starts again at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2.

“Daylight saving time disrupts people’s daily rhythms, but it also destabilizes the systems that organize work, travel and care,” said Kat Morand, an economics instructor in HPU’s Earl N. Phillips School of Business. “When the clock shifts forward, people lose sleep and alertness declines, leading to a measurable rise in traffic fatalities and emergency room visits—modest in scale, but entirely preventable and policy-driven. Efficiency isn’t only about output; it’s about alignment, and time policy should reflect that.”

The shift in time for daylight saving can impact the body’s natural cycle, said Dr. Racquel Ingram, founding dean of HPU’s Teresa B. Caine School of Nursing.

“Switching between daylight saving time and standard time can disrupt the body’s circadian rhythm, affecting both physical and mental health,” Ingram said. “The time change increases the risk of sleep disturbances, which can lead to fatigue, depression, cardiovascular events and other health issues. These effects are typically most pronounced during the first few weeks after the shift, making advance preparation essential for a smoother adjustment.”

North Carolina Residents: Daylight Saving Sentiment (August – September 2025)

Currently in most of the country clocks are set forward by one hour in the spring, called daylight saving time, and are set back by one hour in the fall, to standard time. Which of these do you prefer – change to year-round daylight-saving time (later sunrise, more daylight in the evening), change to year-round standard time (earlier sunrise, less daylight in the evening), or keep the current system?

• Change to year-round daylight-saving time (later sunrise, more daylight in the evening) – 40%
• Change to year-round standard time (earlier sunrise, less daylight in the evening) – 11%
• Keep the current system – 23%
• Unsure – 25%

Methodology:

HPU Poll 113 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center on Aug. 27 through Sept. 11 as an online survey using a panel of respondents recruited and maintained by Dynata. Dynata sent invitations to its panel of North Carolina respondents and the SRC collected 950 responses (an all-adults sample) on its Qualtrics platform. All respondents were asked two screening questions to identify them as registered voters. A total of 792 respondents identified themselves as registered voters. The SRC did all data analysis. The online sample is from a panel of respondents, and their participation does not adhere to the usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classic margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, for the all-adults sample, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points to account for a traditional 95% confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.2 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.1 (based on the weighting). The all-adults data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race, education and ethnicity based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. The High Point University Survey Research Center (SRC) produces weights through an iterative procedure within SPSS. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional errors into the findings of opinion polls.

Further results and methodological details from the most recent survey and past surveys can be found at the Survey Research Center website. Materials online include past press releases as well as memos summarizing the findings (including approval ratings) for each poll since 2010.

The HPU Poll reports methodological details in accordance with the standards set out by AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative, and the HPU Survey Research Center is a Charter Member of the Initiative.

Dr. Martin Kifer, chair and professor of political science, serves as the executive director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.

Dr. J.R. Moller serves as staff director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.

Victoria DellaPasqua serves as a research assistant of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.

Dylan Shaw serves as a research assistant of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.