Some 54% of Americans now oppose daylight saving time, up from 23% when Gallup last asked in 1999.

Messing with the amount of daylight each day has consequences, as America found out in 1974 when it first passed all-year daylight saving time. See why it was revoked less than a year later.

Daylight saving time is supposed to help—but does it? Dive into the history, science, and consequences of this biannual aspect of American life (unless you're from Arizona or Hawaii).

Changing clocks twice a year disrupts circadian rhythms, which last an average of 24 hours and 12 minutes. Studies have shown that permanent daylight saving time provides fewer health benefits than standard time.

As legal challenges progressed, a May 2025 NPR/Ipsos poll showed fewer than one-third of Americans supported eliminating birthright citizenship, despite broader public backing for other immigration restrictions.

A 2025 study that examined time changes found that permanently changing to standard time would slightly reduce obesity and stroke risk more than switching to permanent daylight saving time.

In a 2023 poll, 87% of respondents said they supported imposing term limits on members of Congress. The overwhelming bipartisan backing makes term limits one of the most consistently popular political reforms in the United States.

An October 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that 69% of Americans believed President Trump was trying to exert more power than previous presidents. Most Democrats viewed it negatively, while about half of Republicans said it was good for the country.

Since 2022, fewer Americans report feeling worse off financially, moving from 35% in 2022 to 28% in 2025. Likewise, the number of Americans who reported feeling better about the economy is up 4% from 2022. More than 90% of Americans cite price increases as their biggest financial concern.

Daylight saving time can interfere with a person’s sleep schedule, but it also has been linked to increased rates of depression, heart attack, stroke, cancer, and car accidents. UT Southwestern’s Dr. Joseph Takahashi explains why the time change is bad for your brain and health.

This makes the method less popular than carbon-free forms of energy production, such as solar, wind, and nuclear power, but more popular than coal mining. Support for fracking increased 7% from 2020 to 2024, primarily due to increased support from Republicans and older Americans.

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Benjamin Franklin did not invent daylight saving time. But while living in Paris, he did pen a satirical letter to Parisians suggesting they could save money on lamp oil by changing their sleep schedules. Read it in full here.

A 2021 Pew survey found that 55% of Americans strongly or moderately support the separation of church and state, while 14% favor integrating religion more into government.

From July 1 to July 7, 2024, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of 9,424 adults to gauge the public's attitudes about the federal government, including government agencies and departments. Of 13 agencies, 10 had net favorable ratings of 15 percentage points or more. Topping the list were the National Park Service (76% favorable), the US Postal Service (72%) and NASA (67%).

Black and Asian respondents reported more pessimism about marriage than white or Hispanic respondents. Over half of Republicans feel negatively about the future of marriage, while only 25% of Democrats felt the same.

As members of Congress and Supreme Court justices continue to serve at an average age far older than in the past, polls show a majority of Americans favor setting an age limit for these roles. Roughly 79% support caps for federal elected officials, and 74% favor such limits for Supreme Court justices. A constitutional amendment would be required.

A Gallup poll from 2022 found that the percentage of adults between the ages of 55 and 74 who are retired is declining.

A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that a median of 58% across 35 countries viewed the UN favorably, while 31% held unfavorable views. Notably, younger adults tended to view the UN more positively than older generations. The report offers a detailed, country-by-country analysis of global perceptions of the UN.

More than 18% of US adults reported that they currently have or are being treated for depression in both 2024 and 2025. In the 2025 survey, more than 11,000 adults were surveyed. The numbers have ticked upward since 2015—by about 8 percentage points—with most of the increase occurring from the 2020 pandemic onward.

During the 1970s, Democrats and Republicans alike backed landmark environmental laws. Congress passed the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts with overwhelming bipartisan majorities—reflecting broad public agreement on protecting the environment.

Twenty percent of US adults said they felt lonely "a lot of the day yesterday" in Gallup polling conducted in 2024. The survey was conducted with more than 6,000 adults who took part in a web survey.

A 2023 survey of roughly 2,000 US adults showed roughly a third of the participants opted to stay in a different room from their partner at night. Reasons for the so-called "sleep divorce" varied, from snoring issues to offset schedules. The survey, run by the American Academy for Sleep Medicine, also revealed the most sleep divorces within millennials. See the study for more on this change in sleep habits.

Polling finds that while most Americans have home broadband and smartphones, digital divides persist. Young adults, Hispanic adults, and lower-income households are significantly less likely to subscribe to home broadband and more likely to rely on smartphones as their primary means of internet access.

A 2024 Pew survey found that over half (52%) of US adults favor allowing teachers in the public school system to lead their classes in prayers that mention Jesus, though results vary widely by state.

Americans initially rejected Ford's September 1974 pardon of Nixon—38% approved it versus 53% disapproved—but by 1986, a slim majority (54%) believed it was the right call, showing that public sentiment softened over more than a decade after the controversy.

A January 2026 survey shows large party gaps: Both sides broadly support recording arrests, but Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to support sharing officer locations and to oppose profiling, masked officers, and neighborhood-based enforcement.

A 2016 survey of 38 countries found that the US scored highest in support for free expression, with 71% of Americans saying people should be able to say what they want without government censorship, more than in any other nation surveyed.

A new Pew Research analysis finds that most Americans still identify with their childhood religion, but 35% have switched or left entirely—often due to lost belief or drifting away.

In a recent Pew Research Center survey of US adults, 79% said Social Security benefits shouldn’t be reduced in any way. This view is broadly shared across ages, races, political affiliations, and income brackets.

In the weeks following 9/11, 79% of US adults reported displaying the American flag, and a year later, 62% said they "often felt patriotic" due to the attacks.

Time with friends peaks in the teens and falls sharply by the 30s, while time with coworkers dominates middle age. After retirement, both nearly vanish, and time spent alone climbs steadily to nearly 8 hours a day by age 80.

The practice is more popular among younger people: In a Pew Research Center study, nearly half of people under 30 reported making at least one resolution. The majority of Americans (of all ages) who didn’t make resolutions said they simply don’t like the tradition.

Seven in 10 Americans dine out at least once a month, but only 28% of diners think menu prices are fair, a 2025 YouGov survey found. That changes only slightly by income, with 44% of higher-income Americans finding the prices fair.

In a Gallup poll taken days after the attack, an extraordinary 97% of Americans approved Congress declaring war on Japan—reflecting overwhelming national unity in the wake of the strike.

Ghosts are typically represented as sad and still retaining some of their humanity. Demons are more associated with evil and the devil, without any connection to being human.