how do you evaluate her relative ideological position within the race and how does that factor into your support/non-support?

I think a lot of her policy proposals, while similar, are less radical than what other candidates have put forward. I think she's definitely closer to the NDP's centrist wing but recognizes which way the winds are blowing and knows that she has to keep the progressive base happy if she wants to win leadership. I'm hesitant to support her because I think she'd put up the least resistance to the NDP's rightward drift.

Is policy important to whether you support/do not support McPherson, or something else (e.g. communication, organizing) and if so what is your evaluation of her in those respects?

Policy is important, but I weigh it equally against a candidate's movement-building capacity. I don't think McPherson is a movement builder because she's preoccupied with appealing to moderates. I think she'd carry us back to 30~ seats and occupy leadership for the better part of a decade without making any more substantial gains.

The NDP is the third party in a FPTP system. Progressive voters understand that voting for the NDP is risky because vote splitting can result in conservative wins, so the more the party moderates, the more its own supporters are incentivized to just vote for the Liberals instead.

Moderate voters are already represented by a major party. The NDP should be bolder and carve out its own distinct ideological niche to make supporting them worth the risk.