Pioneered by George Gallup, a former journalism professor. In the '50s and '60s, PR pros turned to social and behavioral scientists to measure public attitudes and test effects of messages on public opinion. By the mid-1980s, more than 100,000 people were employed in public relations in the U.S., several hundred PR firms. Nearly every large PR firm or organization has a PR agent. PR and politics.
Lobbyists are PR people.