Thread: 84% Know Which Way The Clock Goes Tonight To End DST

84% Know Which Way The Clock Goes Tonight To End DST

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Tonight’s the night we say goodbye to Daylight Savings Time.

Fortunately, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, 84% of Americans say they’ll be moving their clocks back an hour before they go to bed. That means the time will be right when they wake up in the morning.

Just eight percent (8%) say they will move their clocks forward an hour which is going to put them two hours ahead of the rest of us – at least until they set their clocks correctly. Another eight percent (8%) aren’t sure what they should do.

But there’s clearly plenty of confusion to go around as far as Daylight Savings Times is concerned. Just over one-out-of-four Americans (26%) admit that they have arrived early or late somewhere because they didn’t change their clocks correctly.

Seventy percent (70%) say that’s never happened to them.

Is Daylight Savings Time worth the hassle? Forty-seven percent (47%) of adults say yes. That’s down slightly from early March when this year’s Daylight Savings Times began but is fairly consistent with previous years. Forty percent (40%) say it’s not worth the hassle, and 12% aren’t sure.

Women have a better handle on which way to turn the clock tonight than men. Adults ages 18 to 29 are a little less confident on that score than their elders.

Those under the age of 40 are more likely to have been early or late because they got the clock wrong. Seventy-three percent (73%) of women say they’ve never had that problem, compared to 66% of men.

In spite of that, however, most men (54%) say Daylight Savings Time is worth the hassle. Women are more closely divided on the question.

The United States adopted Daylight Savings Time in 1918. It calls for advancing the clock forward one hour near the start of spring so that there is more daylight in the afternoons and evenings. When Daylight Savings Time ends in the fall, clocks are turned back an hour. An often-used reminder is “spring forward, fall back.â€

I do it before going off to bed

Spring Ahead, Fall Back