Republican or Democrat?

My son is having to be quite involved in the upcoming presidential election in one of his classes. They had to write an unbiased report about the candidates--that is not an easy thing to do! Adults throughout the media outlets have a difficult time keeping their opinions out of their reports--it isn't any easier to do this in a high school report. My family is known for keeping their political opinions private--we try not to discuss them too much and often we don't outright say exactly who we are planning to vote for in elections. Even so, I would say that we have a mixture of the two parties in our family and we also have many individuals who refuse to choose a party. Sometimes we can insinuate someone's party affiliation by their beliefs and by what they say, but not always. I won't discuss my opinions here, but I have some strong ideas about things and some would be considered liberal, yet some would be considered conservative. I cannot say that I hold to the overall beliefs of either party. I feel adamant about some points that candidates on one side are advocating, but vehemently disagree with other things they endorse. And the same can be said about their opponents--some things THEY say ring true to me, and other things do not. I am going to have a difficult decision to make in this election because I feel like saying "Amen" to things ALL candidates are saying, and "No way" to all of them, too! I am not choosing a party right now--I will choose a president based on what I think they will do for our country, not based on party affiliation. My son and I discussed these things, and I think my reluctance to "choose a side" helped him to stay objective in his report. Other students may have met with more biased opinions in their families--some families are very proud of their party affiliations and this HAS to be a big influence on their offspring. Either way--remaining unbiased is a very difficult thing to do--especially in high school!