Confused relative's a Republican (7)
I believe the answer is:
unclear
'confused' is the definition.
('unclear' can be similar in meaning to 'confused')
'relative's a republican' is the wordplay.
'relative' becomes 'uncle' (uncle is a kind of relative**).
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'uncle'+'a'+'r'='UNCLEAR'
(Other definitions for unclear that I've seen before include "Indistinct" , "Vague" , "Not transparent or intelligible" , "Not definite" , "Not certain" .)