Trump wants to end Daylight Saving Time: What it could mean for Mass.

Is it almost time for Daylight Savings Time?

Well, according to President-elect Donald Trump, it should be.

he recently announced at X that the Republican Party plans to “use its best efforts to eliminate daylight saving time,” adding that it “has a small but strong constituency, but it shouldn’t!”

“Daylight saving time is inconvenient and very costly to our nation,” he said.

• Read more: What would America be like without Daylight Savings Time?

Changing the clocks back and forth is extremely unpopular in the United States, but Americans are also split between what time they like best, with a recent YouGov poll showing that 62% of respondents want to eliminate changing watches.

The survey, which interviewed 1,000 US citizens aged 18 and over between March 6 and 9, 2023, found that permanent daylight saving time was more popular than permanent standard time.

There were 50% of respondents who wanted daylight saving time, with later sunrises and sunsets, to be permanent, while 31% wanted standard time, with earlier sunrises and sunsets, to be permanent.

While Americans have formally practiced turning their clocks forward one hour during the warmer months and back again for nearly half a century, Trump is far from the first to take a stand against the tradition.

In 2021, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. first launched the Sun protection law: Legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across the country.

Daylight saving time is observed eight months a year, while standard time is observed only for four: from November to March.

• Read more: Daylight Saving Time 2024: Massachusetts Sen. Markey renews push to make daylight saving time permanent

“The bill would simply negate the need for Americans to change their clocks twice a year.” a 2021 publication indicates.

The last bill past the Senate in March 2022, although it did not pass the US House.

“This ritual of falling back and moving forward has gone on long enough,” Markey said in a statement. “It’s not just an inconvenience: changing our clocks also has a very real impact on our economy, our health and our happiness.”

• Read more: When does the sun set before 5 pm at mass?

Whether there’s a move to eliminate daylight saving time or to make it permanent, one thing is consistent: people are done transitioning.

If Trump gets his way and chooses to eliminate daylight saving time in favor of permanent standard time, Massachusetts is one of many states that will be affected by the decision.

What would Massachusetts be like without Daylight Savings Time?

Americans “spring forward” on the second Sunday in March each year, in an effort to preserve an extra hour of daylight in the evening.

Every year, on the second Sunday in March, clocks go forward one hour at 2am to 3am, marking the start of Daylight Savings Time.

On the first Sunday in November, clocks go back one hour and 2am becomes 1am

Ending the eight months of daylight saving time would mean permanent standard time and no more “springtime.”

As it stands, in the city of Boston, Sunrise and sunset during daylight saving time look like this:

Eliminating DST would mean that all previous sunrise and sunset times would go back one hour, so instead of the March sunrise being between 6:05 and 7:00 a.m.: 02, it would be between 5:05 and 6:02 a.

Here’s what sunrise and sunset times would look like in Boston if daylight saving time were replaced by standard time:

That would put sunrise between 4 and 5 am in April through August in Boston.