Some things to be aware of:
- Commuter universities tend to have lower levels of political activity in general, although that does not necessarily mean anything about whether the students are left or right leaning.
- College students tend to lean left relative to the general adult population because younger people tend to lean left relative to the general adult population. Of course, specific colleges may have self-selection effects of students who tend to lean more left or right.
- Even a group of college students that is centrist (or left or right) overall will have students who are away from the center of that group.
- When politics are associated with race/ethnicity, they can get "hot" (nasty, bigoted) very quickly. Students' viewpoints may be affected by what race/ethnicity they are, since it may be more threatening when someone is arguing against an inherent characteristic of yours than when someone is arguing some idea relating to actions that you or someone else may choose to participate in or not (e.g. many economic arguments).