The recessive ideological and political (I&P) education system in applied universities consists of such four components as knowledge, environment, activities and occupation. It is supposed that the system composed of these four components has positive effects on I&P level of students in applied universities. Then, a SEM model is used to analyze and verify the hidden factors that affect I&P level of these students. The findings show that the knowledge, occupation, activity and environment levels all play a positive effect on students’ I&P level to a sequentially progressive extent. In the end, it is suggested that applied universities should take some effective measures to foster high-quality talents, Measures that involve the intensification of the educational environment construction, the enrichment of campus life, and the improvement of students’ professional literacy should be taken so as to stimulate the recessive I&P education to exert more positive role in this regard.