Fall Back
Fall Back
[Cueball is looking at his phone.] Cueball: It's 8 PM. Exactly six days until the polls close here.
[Megan walks in from Cueball's left, holding up a finger. Cueball has lowered his phone.] Megan: Six days and one hour. Cueball: Oh right, fall back. Cueball: Ugh.
[Megan holds out her arms.] Megan: Personally, I think it's great. Megan: Don't you want this moment to last as long as possible?
[Close up on Megan.] Megan: My pandemic anxiety and election anxiety have finally fused. Megan: I have ascended. Megan: I get breaking news alerts in my dreams.
[Back to Cueball and Megan.] Cueball: I don't think the endless 24 hour news cycle has been good for either of us. Megan: Well, then I have good news about Sunday! Cueball: Ughhh.

Daylight saving time ends in the United States at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November, when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. Election Day in the United States is on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
In 2020, Nov. 1 is Sunday, so the shift from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time will happen two days before the 2020 election . This has the effect of making Sunday, Nov. 1 a 25-hour day. The switchover is sometimes referred to mnemonically as "fall back," with its springtime counterpart (a day of 23 hours) being "spring forward" as mentioned in 1655: Doomsday Clock .
At the beginning of the comic, Cueball incorrectly calculates the time until the election day polls close (this varies from state to state); in the second panel, Megan reminds him about falling back. She goes on to possibly sarcastically treasure this extended moment, one more hour to experience the bitter election cycle and the COVID-19 pandemic .  Megan describes herself as dissociating here, and it is possible she is actually treating these emergencies as good now, instead of bad.  The behavior could be seen as an indirect demand for the situation to change, a demonstration that she may lose her sanity further if it does not.  Cueball hears how intense she is saying her experience is, and says he thinks they've both spent too much time engaging with the news (a sentiment echoed from other recent xkcd comics, like 2371: Election Screen Time and possibly 2374: 10,000 Hours ). When he mentions the 24-hour news cycle , Megan corrects him again, as Sunday will be a 25 -hour news cycle.
The title text refers to a popular sentiment that the issues and emotions raised in the 2016 United States presidential election were not settled when the election was over and have continued unabated since then.  Even though the election itself was held in November 2016, the primary candidates officially announced their campaigns in early 2015; thus, 2020 is the sixth year since that campaign season opened.  The implication could be that the whole nation, or at least Randall's community of political followers, has had to be in an altered state of consciousness to handle the past six years.  It could also be a reference to ongoing strong campaigning, in excess of what people have seen in the past.
[Cueball is looking at his phone.] Cueball: It's 8 PM. Exactly six days until the polls close here.
[Megan walks in from Cueball's left, holding up a finger. Cueball has lowered his phone.] Megan: Six days and one hour. Cueball: Oh right, fall back. Cueball: Ugh.
[Megan holds out her arms.] Megan: Personally, I think it's great. Megan: Don't you want this moment to last as long as possible?
[Close up on Megan.] Megan: My pandemic anxiety and election anxiety have finally fused. Megan: I have ascended. Megan: I get breaking news alerts in my dreams.
[Back to Cueball and Megan.] Cueball: I don't think the endless 24 hour news cycle has been good for either of us. Megan: Well, then I have good news about Sunday! Cueball: Ughhh.
