Most US population centers are in places east of the point in their time zones where the sun is overhead (or due south) at noon,
Unless I'm misreading the map, on the East coast, the EST time zone is pretty much centered on where it should be, with New York very slightly east and Washington DC very slightly west of center. The main problem with EST is that it extends west to the city limits of Chicago, while it should change to CST around Toledo.
If anything, most of the population in the US is slightly to the western edge of the time zones, not the east.