Ghoulish and wrong. 

That’s a good summary of both the media in general and this particular contribution from it.

Mass casualties from the coronavirus could upend the political landscape in battleground states and shift contests away from President Donald Trump, according to a new analysis.

Academic researchers writing in a little-noticed public administration journal — Administrative Theory & Praxis — conclude that when considering nothing other than the tens of thousands of deaths projected from the virus, demographic shifts alone could be enough to swing crucial states to Joe Biden in the fall.

“The pandemic is going to take a greater toll on the conservative electorate leading into this election — and that’s simply just a calculation of age,” Andrew Johnson, the lead author and a professor of management at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said in an interview. “The virus is killing more older voters, and in many states that’s the key to a GOP victory.”

Johnson and his colleagues Wendi Pollock and Beth M. Rauhaus projected that even with shelter-in-place orders remaining in effect, about 11,000 more Republicans than Democrats who are 65 and older could die before the election in both Michigan and North Carolina.

In Pennsylvania, should the state return to using only social distancing to fight infections, over 13,000 more Republican than Democratic voters in that age category could be lost.

There are a few problems with this analysis, beyond the simple decency factor.

1. The death toll has been tilted more toward minorities. So this particular fantasy isn’t likely to pan out very well. And many of the dead have been in nursing homes. It’s not likely going to affect the electorate all that much.

2. Projecting these death tolls onto midwestern or southern states isn’t going to work out very well.

3. Biden is also increasingly depending on older voters.