Most Icelanders Support Setting Clocks Back One Hour

A new poll shows that the largest portion of Icelanders are in favour of setting their clocks back one hour, in the hopes of putting us in the right time zone once and for all.

The fact that Iceland is in the wrong time zone has been known for years; the biggest question concerns what ought to be done about it. As reported, the Icelandic government is considering three options in particular: setting the clocks back an hour, launching an educational campaign encouraging people to go to bed earlier, or having schools and businesses open an hour later.

A new poll from Maskína provides fairly decisive data on where Icelanders stand.

Of those polled, the greatest proportion—63%—favour setting the clock back one hour. 23% favor the educational campaign idea and only 14% favoured pushing opening hours forward. The demographic breakdown provides a more detailed picture.

Gender, age and education did not make much difference where levels of support for changing the clocks are concerned, but location did: those living in the Westfjords or in East Iceland were less supportive of changing the clocks than Icelanders in other parts of the country, at 53% and 46% respectively.

Income levels also made a bit of a difference, with the lowest paid workers in the country the most supportive of changing the clocks, at 72%. But the wildest disparities by far concerned political party support.

Voters for the Reform Party were the most in favour of changing the clocks, at a whopping 80%, while voters for the Centre Party showed the lowest levels of support, at 50%.

What steps the Icelandic government will ultimately take still remains to be seen.