A Harvard University national poll released Tuesday shows religion and morality to be significant factors in students' politics.

Conducted by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, the poll surveyed 1,200 college students drawn randomly from a national database. An 11-question political-personality test questioned the students on how important religion was to their lives and how big of a role religion should play in politics and government.

"Using statistical analysis, we found that college students clustered into four groups — which is different from the traditional liberal and conservative labels," Caitlin Monahan, senior co-chair of IOP, said.

The study found 40 percent of students incorporate religious and moral beliefs into their political outlooks. The Harvard students who designed the poll categorized these students into two groups — religious and secular centrists.

Secular centrists made up a smaller portion of the student population than last year. Monahan said students in this category are libertarian in many ways, with a strong backing for separation of church and state. They are also the least likely to vote.

Religious centrists, according the poll, are represented by one in four college students, with numbers growing from last year, Monahan added. Their views are characterized by a "deep concern over the moral direction of the country." Free trade, universal health care and environmental protection rank high on their list of priorities.

"The religious centrists are definitely going to be the swing vote [in the 2008 elections]," Monahan said. "If campaigners are smart, they'll look at this

Monahan also noted that college students' political perspectives do not seem to be all that far off from the general population.

"Who would have thought," she noted, "that the No. 1 priority last year for college students would be Social Security."

James Baughman, director of the University of Wisconsin journalism school, said traditional perceptions of college students' political beliefs tend to vary from reality.

"Journalists routinely over-generalize about younger voters," he said. "They are portrayed as more uniformly liberal and leftist than they are."

Because the most politically active students tend to be the most progressive, he noted, there is a common misconception that a large majority of college students swing to the left.

The study examined further differences between the Republican and Democrat constituencies on college campuses, finding that although both groups tended to believe religion is important, they disagreed on its appropriate role in politics today.

"Only 21 percent of self-identifying Democrats say they want to hear politicians talk about religion, while more than two-and-a-half times as many Republicans say the same," according to the poll.

Hot-button issues such as abortion policy, stem-cell research and gay marriage are generally considered moral issues by a majority of college students. A full 50 percent also believe the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was an issue of morality. Almost as many saw morality issues in education policy and Iraq war policy.

The study predicted a 2008 presidential election between U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz., would be a "dead heat" on college campuses, with students giving each candidate 40 percent backing.

"I can definitely see it on campus," Monahan said. "The goal [of this study] is to get the word out that there's a new way to think about students."