HPU Poll: Nearly Half of North Carolinians Favor Year-Round Daylight-Saving Time
In a recent High Point University Poll, 46% of adult North Carolinians favored switching to year-round daylight-saving time, which would result in more evening daylight.
HIGH POINT, N.C., March 5, 2026 – In a recent High Point University Poll, 46% of adult North Carolinians favored switching to year-round daylight-saving time, which would result in more evening daylight. However, 21% of North Carolinians favored changing to year-round standard time, which would result in an earlier sunrise and less evening daylight.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of North Carolinians preferred keeping the current system, where time jumps ahead an hour in the spring and falls back an hour in the fall to preserve daylight hours. Just over one in 10 (11%) felt unsure about this topic of switching between standard time and daylight-saving time, which starts again at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8.
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.”
In March of 2025 (HPU Poll 110), similar results were reported, with 48% of respondents indicating they wanted to switch to year-round daylight-saving time, 23% preferring year-round standard time, 22% desiring to keep the current system, and 7% were unsure.
Likewise, HPU Poll 94 reported in March of 2023 that 46% wanted to change to year-round daylight-saving time, 20% wanted to change to year-round standard time, 21% preferred to keep the current system, and 13% were unsure.
Dr. Christopher de Bodisco, associate professor of economics in the Phillips School of Business, said the costs of time changes primarily focus on the transitions: schedule adjustments and disruptions to sleep patterns and circadian rhythms with potentially negative health effects.
“The benefits of time changes result from centering our activities around daylight hours and are not as easily measured,” de Bodisco said. “They include increased exposure to evening sunlight in the spring through fall seasons due to daylight saving time, and also reducing winter morning hours spent before sunrise when switching back. The combination increases opportunities for outdoor activities, which have positive health effects, while reducing the winter morning hours spent in the dark, with associated safety improvements.”
North Carolina Resident Adults – Saving Daylight: Daylight Saving Time or Standard Time?
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), keep the current system?
Change to year-round daylight-saving time (later sunrise, more daylight in the evening) – 46%
Change to year-round standard time (earlier sunrise, less daylight in the evening) – 21%
Keep the current system? – 23%
Unsure – 11%
Methodology:
HPU Poll 119 was fielded by the High Point University Survey Research Center from Feb. 6 through Feb. 20, 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 1,115 responses from adults age 18 and older living in North Carolina using its Qualtrics platform. All interviews were conducted in English.
Respondents were asked screening questions to identify whether they were registered to vote. A total of 876 respondents identified themselves as registered voters. The SRC conducted all data analysis.
The online sample is drawn from a non-probability panel of respondents, and participation does not adhere to the assumptions associated with random selection. As a result, it is not appropriate to report a traditional margin of sampling error. Instead, for the all-adults sample, the SRC provides a credibility interval of approximately plus or minus 3 percentage points. This interval accounts for a traditional 95% confidence interval estimate (plus or minus 2.9 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.03 based on weighting.
The all-adults data are weighted to population estimates for age, gender, race, education and ethnicity based on U.S. Census data for North Carolina. The High Point University Survey Research Center produces weights through an iterative procedure within SPSS. Factors such as question wording and other methodological decisions in survey research may introduce additional sources of error 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 the staff director of the HPU Poll for the Survey Research Center.