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It's not misleading at all. It says 50% of Americans don't have a cash reserve that could pay for a $1k unexpected expense.
No where does it say or imply that the person can't or won't borrow to pay the bill. Credit card debt is incredibly commonplace.
This is an issue of reading comprehension, not an issue of a misleading statement.
The key phrase is "in cash." Putting something on credit or selling something to come up with the cash are the same as not having the immediate cash to pay a $1000 bill. I don't believe it's misleading when they mean the same thing. >

It's misleading because, while technically true, it leads people to believe something that isn't. Saying that people don't have the cash to pay for something leads the reader to believe that those people can't afford it, which isn't true, hence the misleading. >

I mean, if you have to sell your stuff or take on debt to pay for something I think that fits the definition of "can't afford it" >

If you buy something with the money you made from a garage sale, does that mean you couldn't afford it?
If you pay for something with a credit card, does that mean you couldn't afford it? >


If you pay for something with a credit card, does that mean you couldn't afford it?

If you can't pay it off right away, yes. 

If you buy something with the money you made from a garage sale, does that mean you couldn't afford it?

Did you have the garage sale because you needed money, or because the garage is too full of junk? Did you sell things you wanted to keep, or just sold unwanted items? There's a difference. >


If you can't pay it off right away, yes.

Ok, so then anyone who gets a mortgage or a car loan can't afford their house or car, right?

Did you have the garage sale because you needed money, or because the garage is too full of junk? Did you sell things you wanted to keep, or just sold unwanted items?

This is not relevant. "If you sell something you don't want, then you can afford something else, but if you sell something you want, then you can't," isn't logic. >

The statement is clear and your view is confused. 
The suggestions you've offered in refute of the claim are actually backing up the claim itself. 

put on a credit card

This means you can't afford to pay it now, so you're paying it later (30-45 days later, unless you're willing to pay interest - in which case, you still don't have the money to pay it off). 

sell something of value

This means you can't afford to pay it now, as you don't have the $1,000 now. So you need to give up things you already spent $1,000s on to recoup the $1,000 you need.

get money from friends/family

This means you can't afford to pay it now; so, you're going to get a loan or a gift from someone else that does have $1,000. 

"50% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their bank accounts" or "50% of Americans would have to pay an unexpected $1,000 expense with their credit card"

These phrases mean the same thing. Credit card isn't money, it's a high-interest loan. Basically, it's legal loan-sharking. Using a credit card to get by is a temporary solution to the problem "50% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their bank accounts" >


You could have $10,000 in credit lines. Which means you could spend another $9000 if you really needed to.

A line of credit isn't your money, you'd be using someone else's money to cover the expense until you can get the money yourself. Being able to spend money on credit is not the same as having money in a savings account for an emergency.

They literally just asked "how would you pay it".

You're right, I agree- they worded the question in a way that gave misleading answers so they could write a click-bait headline.
If someone asked me to pay a $1000 bill right now, I'd put it on my credit card, even though I have 10k in the bank. So, the "researcher" (if you can even call them that) would have gotten a 'false-positive' on their analysis as they would mistakenly assume that I didn't have an emergency savings. But, I'm just cheap and want the credit card point, so I'll put it on the card and pay it off next month.
But, we can't deny that there are many in this "study" that actually are barely making ends meet and live paycheck to paycheck due to the job market, inflation, and overall economic conditions.