By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing - The “Catholic vote” is a myth. The notion that Catholics vote as an identifiable bloc of the national electorate hasn’t been true for decades. Still, there are enough Catholic voters – one out of every four or five, nationally – that even a marginal shift in one slice of the Catholic electorate can tip a national election. This being a presidential election year, and with the real possibility of a Catholic on the top of the Democratic ticket, many Americans will be paying close attention to see what the bishops in the United States say (or don’t say) about public policy in the coming months.