Voters across the nation say skyrocketing gas prices are causing financial hardships for their families. Those concerns cuts across the political spectrum and are adding to a sour political environment that may be worsening for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party as early voting begins in the midterm elections. Trump triggered a bipartisan backlash during a campaign appearance in North Carolina this week when he played down the economic impact of surging gas prices. Republican candidates are struggling with the additional burden of Trump’s weak approval ratings, an unpopular war in Iran and an affordability crisis that Trump and his GOP allies in Congress had promised to fix.